UFW opposes H.R. 5759 Congressman Ted Yoho’s (R-FL) proposal to prevent the President from protecting immigrant familiesAs House Republicans Gear Up to Vote on a new Deportation Bill, The United Farm Workers Calls on Congress to Respond “NO.”Rather than to support bipartisan immigration legislation sitting on their desk for more than a year, they continue staging political theatrics at the expense of immigrants.BAKERSFIELD, CA– The United Farm Workers, strongly opposes and calls on Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and all members of Congress to vote "NO" on H.R. 5759. After Congress failed to pass meaningful immigration legislation, they are now focusing their efforts on trying to sabotage the President’s actions, which would protect hard-working immigrant families. With this vote, Republicans have proclaimed once again that they do not value immigrant contributions that move this country forward. While the vote is largely symbolic, as it would not pass in the U.S. Senate, the gesture speaks to the Republicans’ anger at the President for taking steps within his authority to fix the immigration system on his own and their direct unwillingness to help millions of undocumented immigrants.H.R. 5759, the bill introduced by Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL), is a direct attack against farm workers and immigrants everywhere, who bring food to America’s dinner tables every day. It’s also an attack toward, the millions of young people whose lives have been improved by the President’s 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and those, who will benefit from this new program.The UFW has worked for 14 years on a bipartisan basis to get Congress to act on immigration policy. Different versions of agricultural compromises, negotiated by the UFW with the nation’s agricultural employers, passed the U.S. Senate multiple times over the last 14 years, including during the current session and has held the majority of the support in the House of Representatives. However, Congress has failed to act. As enforcement at the border has dramatically increased over the last decade, agricultural employers have become increasingly vocal about their inability to hire professional, competent farm workers. Yet Congress has failed to act.The nation will benefit from a safer, more stable food supply as a result of President Obama’s immigration actions. The President’s action also shows respect to some of the new Americans, who are currently working in the fields to feed the country. Consider the words of Maria, a California farm worker for almost two decades, who shared the following letter about her and her family and what she would gain from executive action when she works harvesting grapes for other Americans to enjoy:“My name is Maria and I’ve been in the U.S. for 17 years. I work in the fields harvesting table grapes. I’m from Earlimart, CA. It’s really sad for me that I haven’t been able to see my father in 17 years and my five siblings, whom have stayed in Mexico. It’s very necessary that an executive order on immigration be passed because failing to pass administrative relief is negatively affecting many families.For example, I’m a single mother with three daughters and every day I wake up to keep fighting and working in the fields to keep my family moving forward. Yet, there’s always the fear that immigration (officials) will deport me.”President Obama’s deferred action program for new Americans, who are parents of U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents and who have lived in the United States for more than five years will help Maria and those like her come out of the shadows.Maria has worked hard to feed the nation for years, it’s time for GOP leaders to do their jobs and vote on real solutions that will fix the broken immigration system. The UFW urges all members of Congress to Vote "No" on Rep. Yoho’s new Deportation Bill, H.R. 5759.
