CHC ON AGRICULTURAL GUESTWORKER HEARING

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Congressman Jim Costa (CA-16), member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) and ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee's Rural Development, Research, Biotechnology, and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee, released this statement in advance of the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Agricultural Guestworker Programs:

“Every sector of our economy and every region of our nation have a stake in fixing our broken immigration system,” said Costa. “We must find a balanced approach that meets the needs of agriculture and the workers who labor everyday to provide our nation and world with safe, healthy foods. It is clear that the H-2A system has become too inefficient and bureaucratic to meet the needs of workers, the industry, or our nation.

"We have already seen coalitions from across industries and ideologies come together to say that now is the time for common sense, comprehensive immigration reform. It is my hope that the Immigration Subcommittee outlines a path forward that provides a legal, stable workforce for our Agriculture industry and a route to citizenship for those helping put food on our nation’s dinner tables. If we want to keep American agriculture at the forefront of our global economy, we must act on comprehensive immigration reform.”

The CHC, in conjunction with several agricultural and immigration groups, will be live tweeting the hearing using the hashtag #HJC.