UFW commends President for taking first step –
and calls on Congress to finish the job
President acted within the law, Congress needs to improve the law
United Farm Worker President Arturo Rodriguez issued the following statement from Washington D.C. where he viewed Obama’s announcement that the administration is taking steps to ensure that five million undocumented immigrants can come out from the shadows and live without fear in a country they’ve grown to love while securing our borders. This relief will include at least 250,000 farm workers, including 125, 000 of them from California. This announcement comes a day after Rodriguez met with Obama.
"The United Farm Workers commends the President Obama for his leadership by acting on immigration policy. The President’s action will allow at least 250,000 of America’s current professional farm workers who feed our nation to apply for temporary legal status and work permits. Farm workers who have lived in the United States for five years and have children who are US citizens or Legal Permanent Residents, pass a criminal background check, pay all of their taxes, and pay a fee will be able to work and live in the United States without fear of deportation. We encourage everyone who believes they or someone they know is eligible to contact the UFW Foundation at (877-) 881-8281 or text at 877877, and to go to Sisepuede.org.”
The United Farm Workers has worked for 14 years on a bipartisan basis to get Congress to act on immigration policy. The AgJOBS bill, negotiated by the UFW with the nation’s agricultural industry, passed the U.S. Senate multiple times, including during the current session. This proposal has enjoyed majority support in the House of Representatives, Yet Congress has failed to act. Today, President Obama took the steps within the executive branch’s authority to begin to fix our broken immigration system. Today the UFW celebrates. Tomorrow, we continue the work to get Congress to pass immigration legislation.
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