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Seat the Table Coalition presses for real immigration reform solutions
An ag coalition of farm and restaurant groups is calling on Congress to pass immigration reform to address workforce shortages.
American Business Immigration Coalition CEO Rebecca Shi says Congress currently has a menu of bipartisan legislative solutions that would provide work permits to long-term immigrants and keep food affordable.
“When we pull highly productive long-term workers out of farms, packing plants, grocery stores, and restaurant kitchens, there is simply no one to replace them, and the results are driving up prices,” she says.
Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois joined the Seat the Table Coalition as part of a news conference Tuesday.
“The bottom line in the food chain is without immigrants we don’t eat, or we don’t eat as well, that’s for sure,” he says. “We’ve found over and over again when it comes to dealing with these issues, there are solutions.”
Senator Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico says the bipartisan Farm Workforce Moderation Act would change the dynamics for ag labor.
“If we don’t have a strong workforce here, I don’t understand how this administration and the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture can promise anyone that we’re doing things to lower prices for food every day in America,” he says.
The Farm Workforce Modernization Act and Durbin’s Dream Act are among the nine bills the coalition says could be passed by Congress to help keep farms and restaurants operating.
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