Farm leaders react to immigration announcements
July 01, 2014 | 12:01 PM
Farm leaders who had tried to convince the House of Representatives to pass immigration reform legislation this year expressed deep disappointment at the announcement Monday that the House will not take up a bill this year and that President Barack Obama will use his executive powers to deal with the situation.
In a Rose Garden ceremony Monday, Obama announced that House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, had told him the House will not take up any immigration reform legislation this year.
“I believe Speaker Boehner when he says he wants to pass an immigration bill,” Obama said. “I think he genuinely wants to get something done. But last week, he informed me that Republicans will continue to block a vote on immigration reform at least for the remainder of this year.”
Boehner in a statement said that “I told the president what I have been telling him for months: the American people and their elected officials don’t trust him to enforce the law as written. Until that changes, it is going to be difficult to make progress on this issue.”
Obama and Boehner blamed each other for the arrival of children from Central America on the border.
Obama said “the problem is, is that our system is so broken, so unclear that folks don’t know what the rules are.”
Boehner said “The president’s own executive orders have led directly to the humanitarian crisis along the southern border, giving false hope to children and their families that if they enter the country illegally they will be allowed to stay.”
All the farm leaders who issued statements expressed dismay that the House will not hold a vote, but were nuanced in their differences.
Charles Conner
“This inaction squanders the best opportunity we have had in a generation to fix a problem of critical importance to agriculture and bolster the economy across rural America,” said National Council of Farmer Co-operatives CEO Charles Conner, who leads an agricultural coalition in favor of immigration reform.
“Any executive action that the president takes on immigration will not adequately solve agriculture’s problems in finding a legal, skilled and dependable workforce now or in the future; the president admitted as much in his remarks today,” Conner said.
“Executive action will only freeze in place the current dysfunctional state of affairs. Farmers will continue to be unable to find the workers they need to pick crops or care for livestock; more food production will go overseas; local economies across the country will suffer; and the American consumer will ultimately pay more for the food they eat.”
Tom Stenzel
United Fresh Produce Association President and CEO Tom Stenzel again urged the House to take action.
“If the House continues to disregard its responsibility to address this issue, the produce industry has no choice but to work with the administration on short-term administrative patches that will be appreciated, but are ultimately unsatisfactory,” Stenzel said.
“Our industry is committed to providing Americans with an abundant supply of nutritious, healthy produce essential to their physical well-being,” he said.
“But it is a basic fact that we face a declining and inadequate workforce to harvest and distribute U.S. grown fruits and vegetables. Congressional inaction on immigration reform is driving fruit and vegetable production out of the United State, costing U.S. consumers and farmers millions of dollars, and eliminating jobs across the produce supply chain.”
Tom Nassif
Western Growers President and CEO Tom Nassif said that when he met with Vice President Joe Biden on the issue last week, Biden had shared the information that Boehner had said he would not hold a vote.
Biden also said there would be administrative actions to reduce the adverse affects of that decision on workers currently in this country illegally and that those actions would be constitutional and respect the separation of powers, Nassif added.
He also noted that Biden did not ask industry representatives “what we would like to see accomplished with the exercise of executive power, nor whether we would support the president’s use of those powers to reform immigration law.”
“The House leadership’s refusal thus far to allow a vote on an immigration bill puts all U.S. industries, especially agriculture, in a desperate situation,” Nassif said.
“Clearly the majority of U.S. citizens, including Republicans, want to see the House pass immigration reform. Clearly the U.S. economy would benefit from immigration reform,” he said.
“There may never be another Republican president during my lifetime. Why, therefore, is the speaker refusing to take up immigration reform? If House leadership has concerns with border security, the House majority can easily pass the border security bill that passed last year in the Homeland Security committee with or without Democratic support. If it is lack of confidence in President Obama, that should not be an issue as he will not be president when most of an immigration reform law would be implemented in 2017 or after.”
“With those two issues off the table, what issues, other than party politics, are stopping the House from doing what this country wants and needs?,” Nassif said.
“I am confident there are reasonable women and men in both parties who could come to an agreement if that were their desire. The question is why aren’t they allowed to?”
In a Rose Garden ceremony Monday, Obama announced that House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, had told him the House will not take up any immigration reform legislation this year.
“I believe Speaker Boehner when he says he wants to pass an immigration bill,” Obama said. “I think he genuinely wants to get something done. But last week, he informed me that Republicans will continue to block a vote on immigration reform at least for the remainder of this year.”
Boehner in a statement said that “I told the president what I have been telling him for months: the American people and their elected officials don’t trust him to enforce the law as written. Until that changes, it is going to be difficult to make progress on this issue.”
Obama and Boehner blamed each other for the arrival of children from Central America on the border.
Obama said “the problem is, is that our system is so broken, so unclear that folks don’t know what the rules are.”
Boehner said “The president’s own executive orders have led directly to the humanitarian crisis along the southern border, giving false hope to children and their families that if they enter the country illegally they will be allowed to stay.”
All the farm leaders who issued statements expressed dismay that the House will not hold a vote, but were nuanced in their differences.
“This inaction squanders the best opportunity we have had in a generation to fix a problem of critical importance to agriculture and bolster the economy across rural America,” said National Council of Farmer Co-operatives CEO Charles Conner, who leads an agricultural coalition in favor of immigration reform.
“Any executive action that the president takes on immigration will not adequately solve agriculture’s problems in finding a legal, skilled and dependable workforce now or in the future; the president admitted as much in his remarks today,” Conner said.
“Executive action will only freeze in place the current dysfunctional state of affairs. Farmers will continue to be unable to find the workers they need to pick crops or care for livestock; more food production will go overseas; local economies across the country will suffer; and the American consumer will ultimately pay more for the food they eat.”
United Fresh Produce Association President and CEO Tom Stenzel again urged the House to take action.
“If the House continues to disregard its responsibility to address this issue, the produce industry has no choice but to work with the administration on short-term administrative patches that will be appreciated, but are ultimately unsatisfactory,” Stenzel said.
“Our industry is committed to providing Americans with an abundant supply of nutritious, healthy produce essential to their physical well-being,” he said.
“But it is a basic fact that we face a declining and inadequate workforce to harvest and distribute U.S. grown fruits and vegetables. Congressional inaction on immigration reform is driving fruit and vegetable production out of the United State, costing U.S. consumers and farmers millions of dollars, and eliminating jobs across the produce supply chain.”
Western Growers President and CEO Tom Nassif said that when he met with Vice President Joe Biden on the issue last week, Biden had shared the information that Boehner had said he would not hold a vote.
Biden also said there would be administrative actions to reduce the adverse affects of that decision on workers currently in this country illegally and that those actions would be constitutional and respect the separation of powers, Nassif added.
He also noted that Biden did not ask industry representatives “what we would like to see accomplished with the exercise of executive power, nor whether we would support the president’s use of those powers to reform immigration law.”
“The House leadership’s refusal thus far to allow a vote on an immigration bill puts all U.S. industries, especially agriculture, in a desperate situation,” Nassif said.
“Clearly the majority of U.S. citizens, including Republicans, want to see the House pass immigration reform. Clearly the U.S. economy would benefit from immigration reform,” he said.
“There may never be another Republican president during my lifetime. Why, therefore, is the speaker refusing to take up immigration reform? If House leadership has concerns with border security, the House majority can easily pass the border security bill that passed last year in the Homeland Security committee with or without Democratic support. If it is lack of confidence in President Obama, that should not be an issue as he will not be president when most of an immigration reform law would be implemented in 2017 or after.”
“With those two issues off the table, what issues, other than party politics, are stopping the House from doing what this country wants and needs?,” Nassif said.
“I am confident there are reasonable women and men in both parties who could come to an agreement if that were their desire. The question is why aren’t they allowed to?”
