Republican Lawmakers Attempt to Defend Amnesty Votes

Final week, the Home of Representatives handed two items of amnesty laws – H.R. 6, the American Dream and Promise Act, and H.R. 1603, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.

Taken collectively, these payments search to
put 4.5 million unlawful aliens on a pathway to citizenship with no single
significant enchancment to immigration enforcement. Whereas their future within the
Senate stays unsure, if any immigration invoice has a good probability at
reaching President Biden’s desk, it’s the farmworker amnesty. 

It’s value noting that the Farm Workforce Modernization Act handed not solely with near-universal Democratic assist, but in addition a big variety of Republicans. It acquired a whopping 30 Republican votes, with 10 members co-sponsoring the laws. Now, after receiving well-deserved warmth, a few of these representatives are defending their votes in favor of this amnesty, even going so far as telling the American folks that these payments weren’t amnesties in any respect.

Freshman Rep. Peter Meijer (Mich.), a member of the billionaire Meijer superstore household, launched a Twitter video through which he defended his vote in favor of H.R. 1603, the farmworker amnesty. This comes after he promised the residents of Michigan’s 3^rd Congressional District that he would vote to “safe the borders.” On his marketing campaign web site, Meijer promised to “reform our damaged immigration system in order that it prioritizes merit-based immigration.”

But in his Twitter video, Meijer
stated that:

Workforce
shortages are an enormous problem for #MI03 farmers & have led to job losses
for US residents. Even in a pandemic w/ excessive unemployment, farmers nonetheless can’t
discover labor they want. HR 1603 additionally consists of obligatory E-Confirm to carry a lot
wanted immigration enforcement to the agricultural sector whereas making certain
farmers can entry a authorized workforce throughout their rising seasons. Glad to see
it go the Home!

Scores of Twitter customers identified that Meijer’s pondering was flawed and criticized him for supporting this amnesty invoice. One consumer responded that he was a “coward.” One consumer asked “Have you ever tried bettering the wages and dealing circumstances but?” Clearly, the reply to that query is not any.

A second Republican lawmaker, Rep. Mike Simpson (Idaho), stated in a speech on the Home ground that:

This invoice is
not about what’s occurring on the southern border … this invoice just isn’t
amnesty. It doesn’t grant anyone amnesty. It permits people to get
proper with the legislation and to develop into a authorized workforce in america.
It’s about offering a secure, authorized workforce for the individuals who put meals on
our tables.

What Rep. Simpson forgot to say
is that we have already got a secure and authorized workforce for the individuals who put
meals on our tables. It’s the H-2A guestworker program. H-2A is uncapped –
which means a vast variety of farmworkers can come to the U.S. – and are comparatively
cheap to make use of. However many huge farms don’t like to make use of H-2A as a result of it
includes assembly sure federal necessities, whereas it’s a lot simpler to
merely rent an unlawful alien off the road for even cheaper than a authorized
guestworker.

Rep. Simpson is mistaken when he
stated that this isn’t an amnesty. How can that be true when 1.5 to 2 million
unlawful aliens can earn a pathway to citizenship, after a grotesque indentured
servitude interval the place they’re tied to the farms? That’s an amnesty – plain
and easy. Worse, Rep. Simpson’s declare that this invoice “permits people to
get proper with the legislation” is ridiculous. Rep. Simpson supported a invoice that
forces the legislation to get proper with the individuals who violated it. The one means these
unlawful aliens may “get proper” with the present legislation is that if they adopted the
present legislation and returned to their house international locations.

The Farm Workforce Modernization Act amnesty provides the agriculture business precisely what they need – extra low cost international labor. Mechanization and automation expertise exist already for huge swaths of agriculture, together with grain crops. But farms nonetheless use hand-picking for crops like fruits and a few greens. Why is that this? Why not undertake or spend money on mechanization? As a result of it’s considerably cheaper (within the short-term) to rent unlawful aliens and guestworkers.

The answer right here is to not amnesty
these tens of millions of unlawful alien farmworkers. The answer is to enhance farmer
entry to labor-saving expertise that negates using farmhands within the
first place, making our agriculture extra environment friendly and eradicating the roles magnet
that pulls unlawful aliens working in agriculture.