National Milk Producer Federation Leaders are concerned with Representative Lamar Smith’s legislation calling for mandated use by employers of an E verify system. Federation’s Chris Galen says while E verify may be needed, just doing that doesn’t solve the immigration problem and the need for agricultural workers.
Galen says a Federation survey done a few years ago indicated 140,000 dairy workers in the U.S. with 40 percent of those foreign workers, and many of those undocumented. He says therefore immigration reform with some type of guest worker program must be passed along with E verify.
Galen says they’ll continue to work with members of Congress to get some type of immigration reform passed that meets the security needs as well as the ag worker needs.
1.4 million farm laborers are currently not authorized to work in the U.S. and members of Congress are trying to find the best way to solve that problem.