Jobless Citizens to Replace Immigrant Farm Workers
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Arturo Rodriguez | ||||
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The UFW has launched the national “Take Our Jobs” campaign that invites U.S. citizens and legal residents to replace tens of thousands of immigrant field laborers, most of whom are undocumented.
Rodriguez and Colbert will address growing anti-immigrant sentiment and encourage Americans to apply for jobs that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calls one of the top 10 most dangerous in the nation. The appearance is part of the national campaign to generate public interest in the Take Our Jobs effort.
Organizers of the campaign plan to take it to Congress in hopes of getting much needed immigration reform passed. The drive spotlights the issue of immigrant laborers who are the backbone of the country’s agricultural economy. Without reform, domestic agriculture could be crippled, leading to more jobs moving off shore.
The farm worker population of the United States is overwhelmingly immigrant, with about 85 percent of workers born outside of the United States. Today, the vast majority of farm workers are unauthorized, according to government statistics.
The UFW has negotiated the AgJobs bill with the agricultural industry that would give undocumented farm workers presently here the right to earn legal status by continuing to work in agriculture. Senators Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN.) are the principal co-authors in the Senate and U.S. Reps. Adam Putnam (R-FL) and Howard Berman (D-CA) are chief sponsors in the House.
“The Colbert Report” will air at 11:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times and 10:30 Central time (in most areas-check your local listings)on the Comedy Central cable network.
Visit the campaign website at: www.takeourjobs.org
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