For Immediate Release
Rose Green-Flores
National Farm Worker Ministry
984-800-2383
communications@nfwm.org
Community, Faith Organizations Join Concerned Consumers In Telling Congress
Essential Workers Deserve A Path To Citizenship
Raleigh, NC: According to experts, nearly half or more of the farm workers in the U.S. are undocumented. These essential workers have lived and worked in communities across the country for years, even decades, helping to put food on tables without a reasonable path to citizenship. The last comprehensive immigration reform in the U.S. was in 1986.
“Enough time has passed without immigration reform and Congress must take steps to protect these essential workers,” said Julie Taylor, Executive Director of National Farm Worker Ministry. “Stop calling them essential while making them vulnerable to the profit of the US agribusiness system. It is time to recognize and authorize farm workers’ right to work in this country.”
Hundreds of concerned consumers from coast to coast have signed a petition from the National Farm Worker Ministry telling Congress to create a path to citizenship for essential workers, like farm workers. Likewise, a dozen community and faith organizations have signed-on to a letter urging the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement and the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety to pass comprehensive immigration reform that is just and humane.
“Farm workers are hardworking, dedicated and resilient members of our community that contribute not just to the economy but ensure that all our families eat,” said Elizabeth Rodriguez, Director of Farm Worker Advocacy at National Farm Worker Ministry. “Many of them have called America home for decades and have American families that want to see them treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.”
Current immigration policy is inadequate and leaves many farm workers vulnerable to abuse, substandard working conditions, and depressed wages. Criminalizing immigrants leaves many farm workers living in constant fear of detention, deportation, and being separated from their families.
Individuals can sign the petition and organizations can sign the letter at nfwm.org/immigration. The petition and letter will close on October 13, 2024.
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For over fifty years, the National Farm Worker Ministry has been educating, equipping, and mobilizing people of faith and conscience to support farm worker-led efforts to improve their living and working conditions. Learn more at nfwm.org.