Agriculture Industry Welcomes Proposed Immigration Reform
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY – "Nobody else in our country wants to do it", says Richard Quandt of the Central Coast Grower-Shipper Association about the growing labor shortage in California agriculture.
Quandt says the proposed immigration reform bill being debated in the U.S. Senate is reform not amnesty.
"We prefer to call it earned legalization", Quandt says, "its not like you were just here and you got amnesty, you had to earn legalization by working in agriculture for a period of time."
The multi-billion dollar Central Coast Agriculture industry had a seat at the table and California Senator Diane Feinstein’s ear when it came to pounding out the details in the proposed immigration reform bill.
"I think it’s a win for agriculture", Quandt says, "its a win for farm workers because it puts them in a legally controlled status where they are not running across the border at great personal peril and living here in the shadows of the community."
"We have a critical need for agricultural workers and this legislation recognizes that", Quandt says, "it provides a provision whereby those workers can work in a legal, controlled manner. It gives the employer some certainty in terms of their labor needs and it benefits the country because it means we will continue to have our fruits and vegetables grown here locally as opposed to importing them from other countries where there are workers."