Thread: Please call the Senate: NO AgJOBS amnesty !

If you have the chance, it's not too early to start calling against the AgJOBS amnesty proposal. The OBL is already walking the halls of Congress pushing hard to get this huge amnesty passed. I've called several Senate offices this morning and had no trouble getting through. If you can make just a few calls at this time to urge senators to oppose this amnesty, that would be a helpful shot across the bow.

Apparently AgJOBS (S. 340) was referred to the United States Committee on the Judiciary where it awaits further consideration. Here is the link to this committee's members. We can start with them, and call others if you have the chance:

http://judiciary.senate.gov/members.cfm

NumbersUSA synopsis of the AgJOBS amnesty:

http://www.numbersusa.com/hottopic/AGJOBS.htm

Populist,
I will do this today ,now...thanks for the boost and reminder

Yep, let's do it people. Let's get out of the gate now on this. A simple call, e-mail &/or fax will do it. All the Senate has been hearing from are the amnesty pushers. It's time they start hearing from us.

Ugh, there are some ugly looking committee members listed there. I see only two definitely staunch opponents.

This looks like a tough battle. I'm callin'.

From Numbers: (October 5)

In July, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) promised to try to include the AgJOBS amnesty for illegal farmworkers in the farm bill (H.R. 2419) when the Senate takes up that measure. The bill saw initial Senate action yesterday in the Senate Finance Committee, which was charged with finding budget offsets for new spending in the bill, but Agriculture Committee chair Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) postponed marking up the measure until the week of October 22. The Finance Committee did not consider an AgJOBS amnesty amendment, but it is unclear whether one will be offered during Ag Committee markup.

Thanks guys. Every call helps! As noted, the OBL is doing a full court press on this. See this excerpt from a news report:

"A San Luis Obispo County vineyard manager is in Washington, D.C., this week as part of a national lobbying effort to push for immigration reform specific to U.S. agriculture.

Dana Merrill is one of nearly 100 growers, producers and farmworker leaders pressing their congressional representatives to revive and pass the Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act of 2007 this fall...

Merrill said the primary goal of this week’s lobbying effort is to garner as much widespread support of the bill as possible in order to invoke cloture, namely the ability for the Senate to place a time limit on consideration of a bill in order to avoid extended debate. A 60- vote supermajority is required to protect contested legislation from a filibuster.

“Our strategy is to get 60 votes in the Senate so that AgJOBS can be fairly debated,â€

A San Luis Obispo County vineyard manager is in Washington, D.C., this week as part of a national lobbying effort to push for immigration reform specific to U.S. agriculture.

It's less than a hundred miles from the border of San Luiis Obispo County to Tulare, CA where the World AgExpo will be held Feb 12-14, 2008. Tulare is in the heart of the Central Valley and it's less than fifty miles south of Fresno on the Interstate 5. These Congressmen need to get informed of what technology can do to make American agriculture more competitive in the global marketplace. Considering that US farmers have to compete against countries that do use technology AND against countries that use even CHEAPER labor that is a fraction of what even illegal alien labor costs, it is a marvel that they are able to remain in business in the first place. Probably it is only due to corporate megafarms.

I think my letter to the Senators would go something like this:

"Granting amnesty to agricultural workers who have entered the US illegally is no substitute for encouraging American farmers to get back on track in seeking out the best equipment, methods and organizational strategy to once again make US agriculture a leader. We have a lot to learn from countries that have moved ahead in mechanized harvesting. An unskilled labor force--no matter how big it is--can never compete with Third World farmers who pay workers only a few dollars a day. That unfortunately is the future of globalized agribusiness. We need to restart the technology research programs, abandoned almost thirty years ago, that were moving US farmers to ever higher levels of productivity and efficiency.

There are a number of Expositions and Fairs taking place in the US that highlight the latest innovations, even from around the world. This is what US farmers really need. Since we don't have a good temporary worker strategy, importing labor only adds a further burden on the US resources and not many farmworkers actually remain in those jobs when there are other offers."

You make excellent points Captainron. I hope you send your letter to many senators. It should be required reading.

We have an abundance in Florida. I am sure that we can share with the Rio Grande. Would it cost less to blast a canal about 10 miles wide on the border than to fight about the "not" getting built fence? We could send thousands of alligators for the canal. I will ask if it is possible to train alligators.

Please call (or fax, e-mail etc.) the Senate this week to ask them to OPPOSE the huge AgJOBS amnesty. As noted, Ag and other special interests already are hard at work on this pushing for amnesty.

Read this article as an example:

Congress Hears Ag's Immigration Trouble - 10/4/2007

WASHINGTON (DTN) -- Agricultural labor is in a crisis right now due to controversies over immigration and Congress is offering few solutions to deal with the situation, groups told the House Agricultural Committee on Thursday...Staff for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call earlier this week that Feinstein is examining options for attaching AGJOBS to the farm bill.

http://www.farms.com/readstory.asp?dtnnewsid=1712081