The back and forth on immigration enforcement has left many ag employers confused.
However, Congressman Dan Newhouse says that being an undocumented foreign guest worker on an American farm is against the law.
According to Newhouse, “As a member of Congress, I can’t tell federal agencies to, you know, ignore the law, right? That’s their job to enforce the law, but we can be smart about how we enforce it, and I think the President recognizes that.”
With so much discussion surrounding ag labor laws, the Congressman says that now might be the time to find a solution.
“As you can imagine, members of Congress are hearing from their farm employers around the country that this is a huge headache for them to have the workers not showing up because of their fear of being deported, and people recognize that we need these people, and so, we’re seeing this as an opportunity. The President, I think, is going to be very open to some of the ideas that we have to solve this problem once and for all. So, where I think it’s headed is to a solution, finally, for what agriculture, the agricultural industry needs and has needed for a long time.”
He adds that it now falls on Congress to find the right solution once and for all.
