ACTION ALERT: Please Take Action to Promote the Agricultural Worker Program Act of 2017 (AWPA). Help undocumented farm workers gain a path to citizenship, stop the separation of families and live without fear and exploitation.
When: Before Friday, July 7th.
What: VISIT or CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES to URGE them to co-sponsor the Agricultural Worker Program Act of 2017. Farm worker organizations and allies are seeking to have 100 co-sponsors before the Congressional summer break. Please help us reach this goal.
AWPA has been introduced in both the Senate (S1034) and the House (HR 2690). The bill will address current farm labor shortages and will provide a path to citizenship for farm workers.
How: Visit your Senators and Representative in their home districts or in Washington, DC. Talking Points, as well as flyers in English and Spanish. Let them know that you value the people whose labor puts food on our tables every day.
If you cannot visit your legislators, please call, write or e-mail them. Personal contact with your legislator is the most effective way to get them to act and we ask you make that effort. If that is not possible, please utilize the E-mail Action set up by the United Farm Workers.
Primary message:
- Please support the Agricultural Worker Program Act of 2017 (in the House, HR 2690 and in the Senate, S. 1034)
- If already a cosponsor: Thank you for your support of the Agricultural Worker Program Act of 2017 (in the House, HR 2690 and in the Senate, S. 1034)
- If not a cosponsor, please become one.
- The Agricultural Worker Program Act recognizes the valuable role and contributions of farmworkers. The bill is important for farmworkers because it would take away the constant fear of deportation and allow families to stay together. This bill would also ensure a stable workforce for employers and a secure and safe food system for consumers.
- The Agricultural Worker Program Act would help address the current immigration crisis in agriculture by providing experienced farmworkers with a path to temporary immigration status, followed by an opportunity to earn lawful permanent residency through continued work in agriculture.
Visit these sites for a list of current AWPA co-sponsors in the Senate and in the House. If your legislator(s) are already signed-on, say thank you.
For more about this legislation, go to NFWM’s website for links to a fact sheet by Farmworker Justice and to the entire bill as submitted first to the Senate and then to the House.
Share this Action Alert:
In addition to contacting your legislators, consider posting/sharing this Action Alert on Facebook and Twitter. Connect to the NFWM Action Alert and share widely. We really need your help. Now is the time to turn out for farm workers.
And let us hear from you too. Tag us, e-mail us, tell us what happened. If you visit in person, be sure to have your photo made with your legislator and post it on social media or send it to us and we’ll do it.
To let us know about the action you took or for more information, email Julie Taylor at jtaylor@nfwm.org.