UFW President Arturo S. Rodriguez to join President Obama in Las Vegas tomorrow
Keene, CA – The United Farm Workers welcomes a bipartisan comprehensive immigration plan put forward by a small group of senators Monday morning. The principals of the immigration reform proposal include a roadmap to citizenship for the approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants, including special considerations for farm workers and immigrants brought into the country as children.
"We thank this bipartisan group of Republicans and Democrats for understanding that a roadmap to citizenship is essential to any immigration reform plan. We also endorse the proposal’s commitment to strong labor protections as part of any future flow program and allowing temporary workers who have worked in this country for many years to earn green cards," said UFW Arturo S. Rodriguez.
On Tuesday, Rodriguez and a group of farm workers from the Central Valley will join President Barack Obama in Las Vegas where he is expected to announce his own immigration reform principals. The workers will leave Bakersfield at 5 a.m. on Tuesday. Other farm worker leaders, such as Diana Tellefson Torres, executive director of the UFW Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides immigration services to low-income immigrants, will also be in attendance.
"It’s an exciting moment for the UFW and many pro-immigrant groups, unions and members of the clergy, who have been fighting for years to achieve immigration reform. We are pleased to see that lawmakers are starting to get serious about finding a solution that works for America. He will review the proposal and make recommendations to make sure that the rights and protections of both, domestic and foreign farm workers, are taken into consideration," he added.
Rodriguez said the UFW will redouble its efforts to ensure that any immigration proposal promotes improving the lives of farm workers and their families.