Transcripts For CSPAN Hearing 20240705

Tell your Smart Speaker play cspan radio. Cspan is your unfiltered view of government. Full funding provided by these Television Companies and more. Including midco. Midco. Supports cspan as a Public Service along with these other Television Providers giving you a frontrow seat to democracy. Joined and advocates to give testimony on the role of Migrant Workers in u. S. Farming and food production. This meeting will come to order. Last week the members of the committee traveled home for memorial day. It was an opportunity to learn more about constituent concerns. Everywhere i traveled i heard the same thing. I am sure other members did as well. Our nation is in need of legal workers. We have roughly 10 million unfilled jobs in this country and too few workers to fill them. The shortages hurting every industry and every community. I visited dictator, illinois. I have never heard this before. They have too many Job Vacancies , they are desperate for workers. I do not think i have ever heard that. One sector where worker shortage is dire is agriculture, an industry that relies heavily upon immigrants. Our broken immigration system makes it difficult to recruit workers to create affordability of our food supply. Go to the Grocery Store if you have not recently. Let them tell you the story of when things used to cost a few months ago and what the cost today. Part of the problem is the supply chain itself and the people who are an integral part of it. We start this morning by looking at a video on the essential dangers of the ultimate invisible work that farmworkers produce every day and how our immigration system is filling them. Lets show the video. [video clip] firm laborers are so critical farm laborers are so critical to our daily life. They are picking the food on your dinner table. More than half of the farm jobs are going unfilled. They do not have workers. We have been in a Workforce Shortage for a number of years. Undocumented workers are the backbone. Chair Durbin Congress has failed to modernize the immigration system. As a result, our nations farms have struggled to retain a steady supply of workers. I worked with my friends to advance bipartisan legislation, but we have never secured enough votes to support the enactment of the law. That is not just bad for the economy, it is a National Security risk. Our shortage of farmworkers has forced us to rely on other countries. The u. S. Department of agriculture g has projected that america will soon become a net importer of agricultural products. Immigration reform is a top priority. Both strengthening our borders is a crucial component it is only one part of the equation. We need to approach the issue as an economic imperative. Immigration reform is the most meaningful steps we can take to resolve our shortage of workers. These issues are fundamentally interconnected. We need immigrants. Immigration reform would help reduce unauthorized immigration by legalizing this Labor Migration but it seems that some in states like arkansas would prefer to address the shortage by rolling back the child labor laws. This is not a solution. This is a shame. Immigrants already account for more than 60 of all farmworkers in our country. Most of them are undocumented. What would happen to americas farmer if we deported these workers . Let me tell you about a farmer. She testified two years ago during the last hearing. They shared that his firm lost an entire season of profit because 36 h2a workers were delayed at the border. He is one of the millions of American Farmers and Business Owners who understand our economy depends on the labor of immigrants. Reducing the wages of legal immigrant farm workers or forcing undocumented out of the workforce is not a solution. Lawmakers must enact new laws to protect the rights of these workers while providing them with the path to permanent legal status. This will ensure farmworkers will continue to contribute to our nation. I want to introduce my noteworthy colleague, senator graham. Senator graham thank you. I am glad to be home. I want to thank senator blumenthal for representing me in russia. About my trip. This committee has been bipartisan in many ways. Senator durbin, you have been terrific. In the coming days, there will be a massive counteroffensive that will begin to liberate parts of ukraine from russia. All the money and effort we have made to help the Ukrainian Military has back pay dividends. I will talk in more detail about that. Back to matters here at home. Chalmers carr iii is a constituent of mine, he is in the farming business. We have been seeking a solution to a problem for years. Lets start with the idea that it is a problem. I am surprised that only 60 of the people work in agriculture gr immigrants. I thought it would be more. What we have is a dilemma. Nobody on this committee wants to deny American Workers a job. You cannot get an h2a visa until you try to hire an american to do the job. Legal immigration is designed to help American Companies who fall short in hiring here at home so they can have a robust workforce added to the native born workforce to keep the company in america so that they do not have to leave. The visa programs supplement the american citizen workforce to give the employer a chance to stay in business. The problem is that it is difficult for employers to find workers in certain areas of our economy. H2a, we are not denying an American Worker job. The problem we have is if we legalize the agricultural workforce, give legal status without secure in our border and changing our asylum laws first, you will have a run on this country that you have never seen. It will be pouring gasoline on a fire. I am not antagonistic to trying to find a solution to the agricultural dilemma of creating a more robust legal system so that you can access legal workers and some can stay because they would add value to the country. But if we legalize everybody here in the Agricultural Sector without first securing our border and changing the magnets that are drawing 6 Million People in the last couple of years to our country, then we will have made the problem worse. I am very sympathetic to the dilemma faced by the immigrant workforce and by the employers, but the solution of legalizing millions of people in the Agricultural Community without first dealing with the broken borders and a broken asylum system is illconceived. Thank you. Chair durbin i do not disagree with you but i think there was an orderly way to do this and the bills prepared by senator bennett really put a time requirement on this so that the workers have to be here for i think it is 20 years under one of our proposals. So this will not be a run on the border. You have to show you are reliable worker and trustworthy future american over long period of time to qualify. I am all for orderly process at the border. I think we all agree on that. If we have specific numbers coming in i think it will avoid the calamitous outcome that you think may happen. I hope i am right. Lets see if the witnesses can add anything to that. We have five witnesses. Our first witness is Diana Tellefson torres, the chief executive officer of the ufw foundation. We are also joined by adam lytch of l m farms. Daniel costa, director of Immigration Law and policy research of the Economic Policy institute. Senator graham our witnesses are leon sequeira. He is currently an attorney in private practice where he represents agricultural employers. He served as assistant secretary of labor under president george w. Bush. He was involved in developing the immigration policy reforms, including the first overhaul of the h2a program in more than 20 years. Our second witness is my constituent, Chalmers Carr iii of titan farms. He oversees a farming operation consisting of peaches and vegetables and employees over850 workers annually. He is a member of the South Carolina agricultural commissions. I have been to his firm and he has the best peaches in the world. Chair durbin we are going to have a peach competition. Thank you, senator graham. Five minute opening statements. We kick it off with the oath. I asked each witness to stand and raise the right hand. Do you affirm the testimony you are about to give is the truth so help you god . Let the record reflect the witnesses have answered in the affirmative. Diana tellefson torres, you are first. Chairman durbin, Ranking Member grassley and distinguished members of the committee, i want to thank you for this opportunity to testify. My name is Diana Tellefson torres and i am the ceo of the ufw foundation. Jackie began picking blueberries at age 14. Our nations food supply relies on 2 million farmworkers, half of whom are u. S. Citizens. From workers across the country will probably share about the decades they have worked feeding the nation and much of the world. Our fellow unit is citizens who were farmworkers often live in poverty and struggle to feed their own families. 50 either do not have documentation or are here through the h2a program. Lack of legal status combined with the shameful history of excluding the industry from basic labor laws such as overtime pay makes farmworkers vulnerable to abuses. The threat of Immigration Enforcement is a form of coercion that employers can use against undocumented and h2a workers. U. S. Citizens also often work in fear as they know they can easily be replaced by more vulnerable workers. As far from california who has worked as a farmworker for 25 years asked me to tell you to please pass legalization for farmworkers so that you may see our families without fear, that me we may work without fear. Today, the United States has a choice. We can recognize the incredible value farmworkers and work towards a day when the industry is characterized by workers who live without fear because they have a way to earn citizenship and enjoy equal labor rights. This will enable farmworkers to stay in agriculture and hope the industry thrive. Or we can continue to turn a blind eye to the fact that too many farmworkers work without legal authorization and the existing h2a program has become the worst source of Human Trafficking and workers too often have the rights violated. A number of h2a jobs approved has increased rapidly from 79,000 two 371,000. It is hard to know which stories to tell when it comes to the lives of too many h2a workers. I hope you have read my testimony and understand the problems for h2a workers often begin before they get to this country. H2a workers come to this country indentured. Federal law excludes h2a workers from the Worker Protection act. Workers live in substandard conditions, work in extreme conditions for over 10 hours per day, experience wage theft and do not speak up. This is why our increasing reliance on the h2a program threatens the conditions of all farmworkers. Congress not passing bipartisan agricultural reform is an active choice to support a deeply flawed system, harming both workers and lawabiding employers. That is why we have worked for decades to craft Bipartisan Solutions to enable career farmworkers to gain legal status and to reform the h2a program. They have come to an agreement to move forward bipartisan agricultural immigration bills that won the majority votes in the house or senate during the administrations of president s bush, obama, trump and biden. Many of you here today have been part of those efforts. We have come so frustratingly close in passing agricultural immigration bills and we remain ready to partner again. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you about the important work that farmworkers do. Chair durbin thank you. Leon sequeira. Thank you. Good morning. I appreciate the opportunity to testify today about the Critical Role of the h2a program in providing farmworkers to americans firms. Migrant workers farm. There has been a profound shortage of Domestic Labor and misguided policy that makes it hard to farm. Each year both of these factors get worse. The lack of sufficient Domestic Labor means farmers with intensive farming operations have no choice but to rely on the h2a program. Throughout its history the program has been plagued by complicated regulations, inefficiency, high cost, processing delays, artificial limits on which agricultural employers can participate and open hostility from the department of labor. Despite the programs shortcomings, farmers have no other legal option. Each year the department of labor makes it harder to use the h2a program. In the event there is a lingering doubt about whether there are sufficient numbers of workers, a few statistics will make this clear. In 2022 form is submitted 18,000 applications for certification of about 370,000 positions. As part of the certification process, these positions were advertised nationwide and farmers were required to hire any u. S. Applicant that met qualifications. Fewer than 300 u. S. Workers accepted these positions. That is six one hundredths of 1 of available farmworker openings filled by u. S. Workers. To said another way if math is not your strong suit, for every 10,000 farmworker job openings, just six were filled by u. S. Workers. Participating in the h2a program is not for the faint of heart. Its cost and difficulty is legendary. Over the past five years, the annual labor wage rates have increased by 5 . The wages more than 16 per hour. Farmers must provide free housing and free daily transportation benefits that no other employer provides. Farmers also pay all the expenses of their workers in traveling to the United States and returning home each year. Despite the lack of workers willing to perform this work in the United States, the department of labor has recently devised another way to ratchet wage rates and farm production costs even higher. New regulations will change how h2a wage rates are calculated and they decided to increase rates for certain basic tasks such as driving a truck, transporting a worker or erecting offense. A fence. This will lead to disruptive operations. My written testimony contains a more detailed description of how these new regulations will harm americas farmers. They assume every time they increase wages, farmers will increase their prices to recover costs. But the department is oblivious to a central element in the agricultural economy. Farmers do not get to set the price of their products. The market sets the price and the market is dominated by lowcost imports, especially from mexico, where the required wage rate is the equivalent of 1011 dollars per day. In the United States, from workers must be paid 16 per hour on average. Is it any wonder we have a 37 billion trade deficit in fruits and vegetables with mexico . The department of labor is pursing farmers out of business. This will be the first year in which the United States imports more food than it exports. That should be a clear warning to policymakers that government policy must change. We need a solution that provides farmers access to labor with a fair cost structure that enables them to remain competitive in the marketplace. Otherwise, we will be totally dependent on Foreign Countries to feed us. Mr. Chairman, thank you again for the opportunity. Chair durbin adam lytch. Good morning. Our operations span several states, and we produce a variety of specialty crops. Let me thank chairman durbin and regan member graham for the opportunity to come here today to speak on this issue. The domestic workforce crisis can you pull your microphone closer . Thank you. This history transforms politics and we need reforms that will allow us to have a stable workforce. Like many farm kids, a group wanted to do the same thing my father did. I grew up in the fields alongside him and other workers. It was all hard work. I remember over 30 years ago it started to become harder for my family to find workers. Our existing workforce had become to age out. Others no longer wanted to pursue this type of work. A man from mexico stopped by to ask for a job. He simply wanted to be here so that his family in mexico could have a better life. As the years went by, he started to recruit more workers from mexico. A family operation had no other way to meet our Seasonal Work needs. I began to understand that american agriculture was dependent on imMigrant Workers to get the job done. Fast forward 30 years and not much has changed. Americas food system still requires Seasonal Workers. As American Farmers we face a variety of challenges. Most of these are things we cannot control, like weather, Market Conditions and supply disruptions. The single Biggest Issue we face is the unprecedented shortage of Domestic Labor. The h2a program is currently our only option. The program is greatly flawed and made even more challenging by the federal agency entrusted to administer it. Under the h2a program, the wage rate is set each year for workers, the methodology of which lacks transparency. There are no American Workers willing to do these jobs. American families are the ones being adversely affected as our workforce crisis will continue to drive food prices higher. We treat our workers fairly and most of them come back year after year. It is important that they earn a fair wage that provides disability stability. We want a program that works for all involved. For 2023, we received notice of this just 38 days before it went into effect. We had workers on the way from mexico when we found out we had a two dollar per hour increase coming. At the same time, there was little or no time to react. Our crops are touched by human hands at every step of the process. Labor makes up 4050 of the total cost. These Rising Labor Costs exacerbated by a new wage rule make it impossible to compete with countries that pay a fraction of what we do for their workforce. It is often said Food Security is National Security. We must create a pathway to earn legal status to ensure the u. S. Can feed itself. But it is up to congress to act. I will ask you this. Will you support our American Food system by passing agricultural workforce reform or will we have to rely on foreign competitors to meet our food needs the next time our supply chain is disrupted . We need congress to support real change on this issue before it is too late. The future of american agriculture depends on it. Thank you. Chair durbin Chalmers Carr iii. Good morning. My name is Chalmers Carr iii. I am a firstgeneration farmer from South Carolina, where we own and operate tech to firms. Titan farms. We have grown into the second largest peak separation in the country. We could not have done this without participating in the h2a program, where we bring in more than a hundred workers. 800 workers. This has allowed us to build a future for us and our family. I appreciate you holding this hearing entitled farm to table, imMigrant Workers get the job done. While this was very true for the last half of the century, things have changed greatly. There is evidence that we have a shortage of domestic and imMigrant Workers choosing to work in agriculture. NonimMigrant Workers coming through the h2a program are taking these jobs by the hundreds of thousands. Unfortunately labor reform has been tied to Immigration Reform since 1990 therefore we have had no reform. As a result, we have a fragile Food Supply Chain that was highlighted during the pandemic. Food inflation is at an alltime high, or imports and dependence on Foreign Countries is growing rapidly. The department of labor is using the flawed wage methodology which has increased wages nationally 7 this year and 24 over the last five years. 10 states this year saw doubledigit wage increases. The department of labor has passed a new rule that will bring higher wages and more complexity to the h2a program, adding fuel to the fire. Allow me to share some impacts to our firm. Farm. We just increased 14 , which will result in a 2. 6 million payroll increase. It will raise the cost of our peaches 5 . This is what we call food inflation. The problematic wage rule will drive her wages up another 1015 , adding another 2 million to our payroll. We will have to hire two fulltime employees just to implement the new rule. And we are very concerned about the liability of this new rule as it is very vague as to how it will be applied. With these changes, we are finding it difficult to understand if we can remain profitable. The adverse effect of the wage rate was designed to make sure we protect Domestic Workers from Foreign Workers coming in and lowering wages. But yet we have less than 1 of American Workers choosing to do these jobs. So who are we adversely affecting . The u. S. Consumer with higher food prices. We are threatening our National Security as our increased dependence on foreign imports gross. Grows. And yes, we are affecting the u. S. American farm. I believe the future of our nation must reform the h2a program to undo many of these negative trends. I implore you to prioritize labor crisis as a National Security issue, two separate Agricultural Labor reform from Immigration Reform. By supporting and passing the following, Senate Joint Resolution 25, and supporting the bipartisan bill, this is the first step to put a tourniquet on the problem. Examine the issue closely and understand that in the world today are labor force is different than it was just 20 years ago. Studied the issue, debate the issue and past meaningful Agricultural Labor reforms that will help secure our countrys future. I stand ready to work with you. I thank you for allowing me to testify today. I look forward to answering your questions. Chair durbin daniel costa. Good morning, senator durbin. I am honored to be before the committee today. I am myself the son of immigrants. The first job that most of my family members had were in the Food Supply Chain. My dads side of the family worked and lived on dairy farms. My mom worked at the local poultry processing plant. I felt deeply connected to these issues. I believe the United States has benefited greatly from immigrants. The United States should grow permanent immigration pathways and we should do more to improve the current pathways. Congress should legalize the status of those in the United States. That one action on its own would be the best and most impactful reform to improve conditions across many lowwage industries. At present, 5 of the u. S. Labor force lacks immigration status. That leaves those workers vulnerable to real retaliation by employers. It also makes it difficult for those workers to organize and join unions. It is not just unauthorized immigrants were suffering. There are millions of workers today who have a precarious status. They have some protection from deportation along with the work permit, however many do not have a permanent path to remaining in the United States. Their status subject to the whims of policymakers. That prevents them from being able to participate fully in life. Congress should provide them with pets to permanent residence immediately. With a path to permanent residency immediately. Those visa programs should be reformed between have a quick path to a green card. A landmark study of lowwage workers found unauthorized workers were more than twice as likely to be victims of wage violations. A study of Daca Recipients showed they doubled their wages after receiving a work permit. In terms of current residence, there was a broad consensus among economists showing permanent residence wheezes rages raises wages. I would like to say a few words about the conditions in the fields. Working on farm is one of the most dangerous jobs. They earn very low wages even compared to the wages of other lowwage workers. They are either at or near poverty levels, making it so that they cannot afford the food they pick with their own hands. How much would it cost to get from workers a raise in pay even if it were paid entirely by consumers . The answer is not that much. About the cost of movie tickets or a bottle of wine. If average earnings rose 40 , average spending on fruits and vegetables would rise by only 25 per year. Taking the Current National average wage, 40 increase would mean a new wage of 23 per hour. This would improve the quality of life of farmworkers without increasing Household Spending on fresh fruits and vegetables. It is important to keep in mind that many of the claims of the rising wages from workers are misleading. The socalled large increases are almost always starting from a very low number, like 12 per hour or 11 per hour. I will conclude and i look forward to your questions. Chair durbin thank you. I was conversing with mike colleague my colleague on our experience with the gang of eight. We had four republicans and we spent months putting together a reform bill which passed in the florida senate. Included in the bill was a section of farmworkers agreed to by both growers and farmworkers. And it involved a path to citizenship. It was a thoughtful and serious attempt to address this problem. It passed in the senate but was never called for consideration in the house. Senator bennett is one of the leaders on this issue from colorado. I do believe there is a will to solve this problem and the fact that it is a part of Immigration Reform is a fact that we have valid arguments to consider. I want to say that i have no prejudice against growers and farmers at all. I had a valued member of my staff for years whose family was one of the largest employers of migrant farmworkers in illinois. Good people. They cared a lot for their workers. I also want to say were living in a world that is hard to understand. I passed by these fast food restaurants. Burger king 15 to start. You pass an aldi warehouse offering nearly 20 per hour for starting salaries. When we talk about the current wage rate in this country we have to be honest about it. There is a competition going on for our limited number workers. Having said that, ms. Torres, i read your entire statement. Many parts of it are heartbreaking. Would you address the issue of wage theft that is in your statement . It appears many workers are actually being paid less because there was a middleman. What is that all about . Thank you for your question. I will begin this with the story from georgia because i was just there last summer and i was speaking with some Farmworker Women who are indigenous workers from mexico. Their first language was not spanish or english. They were walking through some of the issues they are seeing and started to tell me that when they get paid, they are getting paid by the person who gives them a ride to work. So it is not the fourman, it is not the owner of the farm, and they are getting paid in cash. They are very aware that often the wages they are being paid in cash do not include the amount they should be paid. We are looking at not just a foreman as an intermediary, now we are seeing this random person keeping some of the money. So these workers were letting me know that we cannot say anything , we do not have papers, and i need a ride to work because i do not own a car. I cannot afford a car. So we are talking about the most vulnerable of workers. We are talking about individuals who are keeping our food secure. We are talking about individuals who often do not feel like they have a voice. They do not have legal status. They feel if they say anything they may get deported. Chair durbin a few weeks ago, it was disclosed about the exploitation of child labor, immigrant child labor. Some of this is happening in the heart of the midwest. We think we are above that, but it is not true. Children are being employed, i do not know if it is intentionally or negligently, but it does not speak well for our country. You mention one of the young people with you today who started picking fruit at age 14. Is that coming . That is common. Unfortunately in agriculture, children can work at a very young age. Oftentimes you have parents, we are talking about poverty wages here, where farmworkers are making between a median and mean, somewhere between 17,000 per year or a little less than 20,000 per year. Chair durbin i want to ask one of the question. One of the proposals in the house that pass on a partisan basis was to oppose everify on Agricultural Workers. That legislation included changes to the h2a program, reversing recent department of labor rules. The bill did not include a path to legal status for undocumented workers even though they make up 40 of the workforce. What would a mandatory everify provision due to the Agricultural Industry . Everify alone without reforms to the h2a visa program would be devastating. I think both have to happen together. We live and operate in states that currently do have everify. For the Agricultural Sector overall, it would be devastating to have that based on the percentage you mentioned of workers that are undocumented. Both have to happen together. There has to be greater access to the program before mandatory everify. Chair durbin mr. Carr, i want to give you a chance to respond about practices at your farm. She was referring to nonh2a workers and undocumented workers. This is one of the reasons i joined the h2a program. Ive the oversight of the department of labor investigating me every time. My payroll records are published. They look at those, every employee gets a separate paycheck. So participating in the h2a program is a way we can make sure that there is not farm labor abuse. Chair durbin thank you. Senator graham. Does anybody does everybody agreed that 40 of people working in agriculture or cure illegally . Is that accurate. That is probably a low number and farm labor, that is probably a low percentage. The data from the Labor Department says it is about 44 that are undocumented. Nearly half. Some consensus there. Senator graham let us assume that it is half. Half of the people in the Food Supply Chain are here illegally. If they are left tomorrow, what would happen to the Agricultural Community . Mr. Carr . I would ask you what would happen to our country . Are Food Security would disappear overnight. Senator graham what do you think . I would agree. A lot of those jobs are being filled now quick what do you think . What do you think . I would agree with the other comments. Senator graham how do you fix it . Did you find a way to keep them here on our terms without making other problems worse. Does everybody agreed that is a reasonable solution . They say here but they have to pay taxes, they have to earn their way into some kind of legal relationship with the United States. Does that make sense to everybody on this panel . Ok, good. Now heres the problem. If we do agricultural loan alone, you will have to include other parts of the economy that have the same problem you do. A lot of people out there want more labor like you do. And there are a lot of me people on my side thinking this is not a problem at all. If you say there is enough American Workers to make agricultural work in america, you do not know what you are talking about. And if you see that we can survive in this country as farmers given foreign competition, you do not know what you are talking about. We are going to import more food than we export because it is farm so much cheaper to farm farm. If we did this bill tomorrow, and you did not change the asylum system, you are going nowhere with ilLegal Immigration. That is the problem. A secure border is necessary as part of any effort to provide legalization to people already here. Most americans want a secure border and democratic colleagues have been in the past very good on this. Everything you say is true. I do not doubt one bit that what you say is true, particularly about women and how they are being treated. I do not doubt one bit that if these rules keep going into effect we are going to put you out of business. We may have a different view about the impact of raising wages to 23 per hour. Mr. Chairman, thank you for having the hearing. The only solution available to us is to take the problem in agriculture, come up with a winwin, but also deal with the other magnets of ilLegal Immigration and help other sectors of the economy that are experiencing the same thing. I am for small, medium and big deals. But we are working in a world of no deals. To the american people, we have a lot of problems, but if we do not reform our agricultural system, food prices are going to spike in this country. It is going to become a National Security problem and a lot of American Farmers will be out of business because they cannot compete with foreign entities. Thank you. Chair durbin thank you, senator graham. I could not agree with you more. We have a little bit of experience working together. I hope others will join us. Sen. Klobuchar thank you, both for your work. I think whether it is in that agriculture area, manufacturing, or, our Nursing Homes or hospitals, its very clear we need reform. I have long been a supporter of comprehensive Immigration Reform. I was part of the original deal we had back when bush was president where we had a few democrats in the room and senator graham in the room. Then, we had the bill when it senator grassley and senator leahy were leading the committee that passed through the committee. Then during President Trumps time we lead a group where we came up with an agreement that would have greatly helped on this front. Unfortunately President Trump did not support it. Now we are where we are and a three times we came close. I believe we need reform that includes agriculture workers and also doctors and nurses and Health Care Aides and the like. I do not think we will be able to wait anymore. I will start with you, mr. Lynch. You discussed how you have been unable to fill all your job openings with American Workers. Last year minnesota had under jobs in the state. To start highest jobs vacancy rate. The number one concern in rural minnesota. Not just with restaurants. Our economy in our state is getting to the point, especially in some of our Health Care Settings where we simply do not have enough workers. As a business owner, can you talk about what challenges you face . Last year senators cornice, koons, tennis and i urged the administration to fix the backlog that keeps Seasonal Workers and businesses waiting. Can you talk about that and what happens when theres a processing delay . Thank you for the question. Its similar to the story chairman durbin shared about shea myers mentioning a couple years ago issues with asparagus, we had the same issue on our farm. December 21. We had 100 20 workers scheduled to come december 10. There were delays at the state Department Processing their visas. Most of the workers were turning we had about 160 acres of broccoli we were unable to harvest. Our loss on that field totaled somewhere around 600,000. That was a significant hit on our crop. It ultimately led to us losing significant money for the season because we did not have workers to harvest it. One of my concerns Going Forward with the new oe ws wage to segregation and one of the issues that could create, increasing application. I think a lot of employers are looking to do that having to disaggregate different jobs on different contracts and i am worried that there are already significant delays within both the dol and state department that this could create even worse backlog. That is a major concern Going Forward sen. Klobuchar ms. Torres, you talked about Human Trafficking and how there have been Agricultural Workers that have fallen victim to that. Senator cornyn and diet led the abolished trafficking we authorization act. Clearly a priority of the Community Committee to move forward. What additional protections are necessary to protect farmworkers from Human Trafficking . Ms. Torres thank you for the question, senators. We are here talking about the need for legalization with a path to citizenship for farmworkers that are here undocumented, talking about the dignity of all farmworkers. H2o workers coming into this country needed to be able to understand that they can enforce the law themselves. This is why there is a need for equal rights, for the opportunity for h2h workers to enforce their own rights. And really, impose joint liability between employers, farm labor contractors, and it is to prohibit recruiting fees, prohibit wage theft, to ensure that all the different layers within the ownership and the people employing these folks understand there should not be any shenanigans. That farmworkers are here and need to be protected. We feel it is necessary to have h2a workers be part of the migrant and seasonal Worker Protection act. They are excluded at this point and we are not sure why. Why are farmers that have only Domestic Workers having to abide by this act and those that are bringing in guestworkers not having to abide . One of the only federal protections that covers farmworkers. Theres a lot that needs to be done. Sen. Klobuchar for sure. Thank you. I hope the chairman, as we work on this, in addition to the act i strongly support, that we look at other issues i raise with h2bs, with the health care area, are conrad 30 bill and the like when we look at this. We look at every other area as well where we need to add more workers. It is becoming near a crisis point in my state. Sen. Grassley mr. Square of, i want to briefly discuss policy issues and applications surrounding undocumented immigration and amnesty. First, does providing a nasa Legalization Program for undocumented immigrant farmworkers actually address the problems of shortages in the Agricultural Labor . Does such a program do anything to break the cycle of agricultural dependents on undocumented labor . I think the easy answer to your question is no. The data shows us providing legalization, and there may be perfectly valid policy reasons to do so, but the data shows it does not solve the workforce labor shortage. All of those workers, nearly all of them that would receive legal status are already employed. Providing them legal status again may have some benefits, but it does not create more workers to fill any openings. Sen. Grassley also to you, the last time you were before the committee i spoke about by concerns about the 1986 Immigration Reform and control act and the issue with the spatial agricultural program. Does that act to offer us any Cautionary Tales with respect to the results of a mask farmworkers Legalization Program . Mr. Sequeira yes, senator, it does. It is the exactly wrong approach to take, providing legalization without ensuring a workable future needs future. Reasonable guestworker flow does not solve the problem. Workers quickly left agriculture to pursue other jobs in the economy and nobody can blame them for wanting to move up the economic letter, part of the american dream. Those workers left agriculture and left openings. With no reasonable means of filling them through any Legal Process and virtually no enforcement at the border, workers flooded across and filled their jobs recently legalized workers had vacated. Sen. Grassley also for you, several constituents have reached out to me regarding issues of the Labor Departments adverse effect of the wage rule and the impact it has on them. What changes would you like to see congress or the department of labor pursue in terms of how the readthrough is calculated . Mr. Sequeira senator, i am quite sure everyone here will not stand around long enough to hear the long list in response to that question. I think in short, the current wage calculation status is broken. Simply put. Its not rational. Its not transparent. Most important, it is not predictable. As we heard today, being notified 30 days in advance that you will have to increase your wage rate 10 , 20 , 15 per hour is in a possible business structure. Farmers all are already committed for the year. They have already gone to the bank and devoured borrowed money based on what they think expenses will be and that apartment of labor at the 11th hour will dramatically raise them youre in and year out. Its worse this year because that apartment has pursued an entirely new methodology and theory for trying to raise certain wage rates. It will insert more predictability and complexity into the season. The bottom line is it increases costs for farmers by tens of millions of dollars. We know farmers are struggling to find stability for their labor pool. In your view what are the main drivers of the agricultural segment sector reliance on undocumented immigration labor . Mr. Sequeira when you say reliance on undocumented labor the first and foremost as we have a society, a domestic workforce not choosing to do these jobs. Clearly, when you see less than 1 of americans apply for the over 300,000 worker propositions authorized every year. H2a positions authorized every year. Foreign workers are coming not to migrate and become citizens, but for economic opportunity. If we create reform for the h2a program we could solve the problem and have a legal flow of workers coming in and out of the country to support domestic food production. Sen. Grassley thank you, mr. Chairman. Sen. Coons thank you for this hearing as well as for your leadership. On this issue over so many years. I would like to thank all the witnesses today. In my home state of delaware, and the grant labor is key to agriculture. Roughly 40 of our state land is in agriculture, though we are a small state. Agriculture is a big part of the economy. The family farms largest in my state all right on immigrant labor to harvest fruits and vegetables. They are essential. The badly broken h2a system and overall immigration system imposes real and lasting costs. Farmers in delaware raised the need for more reliable, transparent, fair labor systems and faster processing to feed our nation and the world and i think we need to be mindful that we owe the food on our tables to farmworkers that have kept farms going in spite of shortages, unpredictability. Their tireless work must earn them a place outside the shadows of the american system. To do that, we need to move towards an immigration system that is safe, humane, orderly, fair, and consistent with rule of law. I was pleased to see an Initiative Last week by representative salazar and escobar 200 to introduce the bipartisan dignity act that would institute a path for legal status for dreamers and others if they meet work requirements and reform, particularly to the cultural workforce. Its clearly a work in progress, but its a start. Its clear the ball is in our court in the senate to answer a simple question. What can we find the votes to do and get done in this area to address the system every senator knows has fundamental flaws . I am committed to working with colleagues to find a path forward and i hope they join me in doing so. For years i have heard from delaware farmers that the h2h Program Application process is too costly, timeconsuming, and unpredictable and many have to hire a consultant just fill out the forms and pursue this. The past mild winter in the midatlantic caused full fields of asparagus and a strawberries to ripen weeks early and it delaware farms lost produce. Mr. Lynch, can you talk about how you have seen the same dynamic and what pending legislation might do to address the issues i just raised . Mr. Lynch yes. Thank you for the question, senator. Like i mentioned earlier, you brought up a good point about crops. Maturing early. We are obviously picking a date out on the calendar we want our workers to arrive. So, months in advance. 34, sometimes, five, months in advance when we start working on these applications. Obviously Mother Nature deals us the cards we are dealt. We have a seed to put in the ground. When we think it will be harvested. The uncertainty of that is pretty dramatic. I will say for our operation, we have just kind of, especially, after the issue we had a couple years ago with crops getting ready, the crew not able to come , we have had to kind of cut back on what we do earlier, what we are putting at risk. We have a continuing worried that will happen. As far as legislation, that is currently out there, i think any of them, obviously, it has to be a bipartisan effort and we understand that. We have to have both sides. We also need to address both parts. The workforce that is here. And, we have to address the changes to the h2a program. We cannot have one without the other. Sen. Coons mr. Costa, i was struck by your testimony that addressing economic Workforce Needs is just not a matter of reforming the employment basis, but about addressing those here that are undocumented and providing lawful and orderly pathways for people to come here more generally. Can you elaborate briefly on those points . Mr. Costa sure, having a permanent status means in practice having labor and employment rates. It also means not being afraid to leave your house to go to work and show that your job. Thats one of the main ways you can stabilize the workforce and allow people to know they can show up at work. In many cases it will also be being able to join and form unions. Though, unfortunately, in agriculture, farmworkers are not covered by the National Labor relations act. It would not help for that, but for other undocumented workers. Sen. Coons what i have heard this mornings first that millions of people deserve to live without fear and those that are employers that are farmers need predict ability, transparency. If we are going to have a legal system we need to make changes here and we are falling short of what all of you need and deserve. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Sen. Cornyn thank you for the witnesses being here today. The problem you are describing is real. I want to make sure everybody is clear. Mr. Carr, mr. Lynch, you are not suggesting any immigrant worker that has a h2a visa would get a job that an american citizen was ready, willing, and able to perform, are you . Mr. Carr no, sir. You have to go through an application and it has to be certified that there are no Domestic Workers willing and able to take those jobs. Mr. Lynch correct. And we have to report to the dol the number of applications we get for the jobs we do have posted. You heard the number earlier. We think it is less than half of 1 that apply to the jobs we post and advertise for. Sen. Cornyn i know the farm work modernization act that passed the house last year has been reintroduced in the house of representatives this year. So, i am not really sure what bill it is we are talking about. But, as one or more of you have noted, there is not anyway anything will pass unless it passes both houses of congress and is signed by the president , meaning by definition it has to be bipartisan. The house has past day Border Security bill past a Border Security bill that could serve as a vehicle to do other things in the immigration issue, like, so far, that hera there has not been any indication from me that the chairman of this committee or senator schumer that controls the agenda on the floor, that that is a priority for them. That is part of our challenge. I hope that we can come up with may be a rifle shot way to a million right some of the ameliorate some of the hardship associated with the h2a program. I am not optimistic we will all of a sudden have an epiphany and figure out how to do conference of Immigration Reform. I am skeptical that that could happen. One of the reasons why is because the Biden Administrations current policies are a magnet for ilLegal Immigration. Senator graham, i agree with you completely. As pointed out, the asylum system, as currently operated, again, is a magnet for people to come from all over the world to the United States, claim asylum, or be paroled. Which means, to be released into the interior. Then, being told at some future date, maybe, you will appear in front of an immigration judge. Our i will repeat something i have said before. An experience i had when a Bipartisan Group of senators went to the yuma sector, the Border Patrol sector. The Agriculture Community there in southwestern arizona. We were greeted by the Border Patrol sector chief who said, welcome to the yuma sector. We have seen and encountered people from 170 plus countries and we speak more than 200 languages at that yuma Border Patrol sector. Those people, of course, under the current policies of the Biden Administration words and released into the interior, either given a notice to appear for a future court hearing, or, a notice to report to an immigration and Customs Enforcement office for a potential processing of their future, and as yet unstated asylum claims. Senator kelly, one of the senators from arizona pointed out that callie mexicali, a city in northern mexico not far from the yuma sector. He said, i suspect what happens is people fly in here from all around the world and uber, uber, over to the Border Patrol landed claim asylum Border Patrol and lame asylum. So there is so much wrong and broken with our current immigration system. I really feel like this hearing, as important as the subject is we are talking about, is almost a parody when it comes to the health of how much our Current System has failed and how much we have failed as members of congress to address this in a rational bowl rational, reasonable way. It will not happen by either party trying to dictate what they want. The only way you pass things around here is in a bipartisan bicameral way that gets the president signature. I have not yet seen a serious discussion that will give me optimism that is in the process of occurring or may occur any time in the near future. I hope i am wrong. I have been now involved with every immigration debate we have had. I have tried to be constructive. I wish to continue to be constructive. But, the way the issue is being handled by the administration and the failure of congress to do this in a realistic fashion does not give me a sense of optimism. Thank you. I would take that as a charge from senator cornyn and accepted. Senator blumenthal. Sen. Blumenthal my grandfather was a farmer. Not always optimistic, because he had to deal with many of the obstacles that have been described here, whether the markets. And, the need for people to work for him. And, he was a farmer in nebraska. He raised corn and cattle on a farm just south of omaha, nebraska. But, i do think in the interest of being constructive, to use my colleagues term, we cannot replicate the kind of cannot replicate the process we had in 2013 when we passed, in this committee, and i was proud to be a part of that, a bipartisan effort, comprehensive in dealing with many of these issues. I think it is not only possible, its obligatory at this moment in our history. I would like to work with you mr. Chairman and Ranking Member in this effort. I have supported supported the Farm Workforce modernization act to expand h2a program by permitting your round contracts. In our state Dairy Farmers and produce farmers are in need of the additional workforce. Right now, the system has, it has broken. In fundamental and disastrous ways. One effect is not only on the prices of commodities for consumers, but also, human tolls on workers, particularly, in illegal trafficking. I want to expand on questions asked by senator klobuchar to ms. Torres. Dealing with the issue of trafficking. I know your response was one solution would be to include h2a workers in the migrant and seasonal Worker Protection act, giving them remedy and rights. My fear is they would be corrupted in seeking to enforce those rights and intimidated by a system. Perhaps, there would be private efforts to aid them. Isnt the issue of enforcement fundamental even now to preventing the illegal recruitment fee, and other measures that are right now a violation of law under our current statutes . Dont we need more aggressive enforcement by the department of labor . Ms. Torres it thats a resounding yes. We do. We need increased dol enforcement. You mentioned workers coming forth, even when they do have rights. Worker representation is helpful. Organizations that work directly with workers, that can develop trust alike unions, for example. It is important for workers to understand what their rights are. We are talking about workers that sometimes do not know how to read or write even. You mentioned indigenous workers i met with in georgia. It is important to understand that sometimes even the rights workers do have are not always, you know, workers will say that the laws on the books are not the laws in the fields. Its really important that workers understand whats available to them. I also want to say that in the program would be undermined if we just moved forward with h2a changes in isolation. So, any type of policy really has to be something that is addressing undocumented workers here and addressing the h2a Worker Protections needed. Sen. Blumenthal i think you would agree that the abuses documented in operation blooming onion, that you referred to in your testimony, are more widespread. I agree it has to be more than one piece of the framework. To prevent illegal trafficking, wage theft, other abuses, there has to be a comprehensive approach. Do you agree . Ms. Torres definitely, yes. Sen. Blackburn thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to pick up where senator cornyn left off and focus on the timing of the hearing. This issue at the southern border is of paramount concern. This year, with you as the chairman, we have not had a single hearing that really focuses on the crisis at the southern border. And we know that girls are being trafficked. They are being raped. We know what is happening with all the fentanyl coming into this country. We know the numbers of Illegal Migrants that are coming into this country. While title 42, the expiration of title 42 loomed, these this committee instead of focusing on that and subsequent issues, we had a hearing about delegitimizing the Supreme Court. We have literally focused on so many topics. About everything except what is happening at the southern border. We had a secretary mayorkas come before us and basically refused to answer any question. You mentioned earlier the concern with child labor laws. Thats something that concerns me also. But secretary mayorkas and secretary becerra have lost 85,000 children. They do not know if they are being trafficked. They do not know if they are alive or dead. They do not know if they are in work gangs. They dont know if they are being abused. Mr. Chairman, we need to focus on the entire crisis that the southern border. In january of this year, and mr. Car, i want to come to you on this question. Dhs proposed a new rule that would increase in application fees for the h2a visas. Now, i think one of the things that is so troubling to the Tennessee Farmers i talked to is here is this new Asylum Program fee that would charge employers seeking to sponsor emigrants for certain work visas. An unprecedented 600 per visa. Tennessee farmers tell me this is something making it just about unaffordable. Of course, the fee will be there to support what is turning out to be a broken asylum system. What frustrates a lot of our farmers is instead of rewarding people like you that are bringing in legal h2a through a Legal Process, those that are able to be h2a workers, if they are paying the fee and then the fee is being used to prop up this illegal injury entry. Those are trying to do it right are the ones paying the cost in more than one regard. I have enjoyed listening to your testimony. You have been at this for years. I want you to talk specifically about this proposed rule and the impact it will have on farmers like you. Mr. Carr the department of Homeland Security in their justification for the fee increase, when they said they needed more staff, they put in there a portion of the increase would go towards paying for the asylum process. That is putting a burden on the workers like myself doing it legally and properly to pay for illegal workers coming to the country for asylum that has nothing to do with agriculture. Why should agriculture be paying for this process . I am hearing from farmers and is no efficiency they are given in this process. It is taking longer for the backlog to be cleared and sometimes the crop is ready for harvest before they get the ok. Mr. Carr you have the ability for the department of labor to request further evidence or give a notice of deficiency because of the complexity of the program. As it goes on the timeframe of getting your workers moves further and further. If we streamlined the process and made the application system more easy to allow the employer to certify they understand and abide by the rules of the game, we can get workers in in a much more timely manner. Right now we are not able to apply for h2a workers more than 75 days out from our need but no less than 60 days. Thats a 15 day window we have to work in. Then we have to figure out the hoops and hurdles we have to get. I have noticed on deficiencies deficiencies on a contract written the year before with no deficiencies given back to me the next year because a different officer looked at it. Those inconsistencies are driving the slowings. Sen. Blackburn that is helpful. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Are would like to address the issues you directed to the chair when you suggested we did not have a Border Security hearing. You were president present during that when secretary mayorkas came before us. Its an annual appearance by the secretary, not the case before i took the gavel. He was here for virtually three hours all about Border Security start to finish. Sen. Blackburn he refused to answer. You are entitled to your conclusion. Delegitimizing the Supreme Court, i was thinking about what you are talking about. That has to do with Clarence Thomas and the gifts he received and weathered the Supreme Court of the United States should have a code of ethics like every other federal court. That is your construction of delegitimization of the court but i dont see it that way. In terms of fentanyl, thank you for coming last night, you and senator grassley with a presentation from the dea. I hope you understood it was a bipartisan effort off the record so we both understood the issue better. We are not ignoring it. We are trying to address it in a constructive bipartisan way and i will continue to do that if i can. Website think all panelists for your testimony. Clearly, we have a broken immigration system. Both on the Legal Immigration side and the undocumented percent in our country, some 11 million or so. Mr. Carr, i understand in terms of the percentage of people that are in the Agriculture Sector that are undocumented, some 45 of Agricultural Workers, hard to tell because its not an easy statistic. But a large percentage. Then as with h2a visas, Illegal Migrants, they constitute perhaps 11 or so of those in the farm and agricultural segment. Are those accurate . Mr. Carr between 10 and 15 . Of the 45 or so of the workforce that is undocumented, they are the most exploited in terms of recruiting fees, wage theft and all that. Mr. Carr and they are very similarly exploited. They usually arrive here after paying recruitment fees, leaving them in debt and sometimes more vulnerable than undocumented workers because they dont have family and a network here. I realize it is not easy to determine what steps we should take. Some of the information i have here mr. Costa, that if we were to increase legal pathways to enter our countries, and i am not talking about pathways to citizenship, but for example increasing our visa program. That reduced illegal crossings at the southern border. Does it make sense to you . If we were to increase the availability of visas that would decrease illegal border crossings . Mr. Costa i have pushed back against administration effort to channel flows at the border into indentured worker programs. Im not sure it makes sense to expand Asylum Programs and refugee numbers because of the people showing up at the border are mostly people that need protection. I am running out of time. While there may be some connection, there are these other issues with regards to portions persons resenting themselves at the southern border. I agree. I think both you and ms. Torres indicate that h2 h2a workers should possibly be covered under the migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection act. Mr. Costa, do you agree . Mr. Costa i agree absolutely. I would add, last year we had the lowest number of inspections of agricultural employers ever on record and the funding levels for the wage and Hour Division are at 2006 levels after adjusting for inflation. There just arent enough inspections to be able to protect workers in agriculture. Two other panelists agree putting all these workers under the act would make sense as opposed to having two regimes . Would you agree we should consider putting everybody under the migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection act . What senator, i would not support that. Of course, that is a decision for congress. When the act was passed by congress, the decision was made to exclude h2a workers. I understand, but it doesnt make sense to me. You disagree . Yes. Principally because there are no protections in the act that do not exist in h2a. In fact the h2a program has far more. The difference is under the seasonal protection act workers get a right to sue employers and congress determined that was bad policy to extend h2a employers. In my view giving employees at the right of action is something i would consider positive. Mr. Lytch mr. Lytch mr. Lytch mr. Lytch . Mr. Lytch i share his concerns. There are a lot of protections under the h2a program that are already granted. It all boils down to treating workers fairly. We want them to come back and we have a lot of incentives to make sure they are treated fairly and want to come back. We want the same skilled work or stew return year after year. Can i ask mr. Carr to respond also . Mr. Carr my h2a workers are part of my family. I have been in the program for 25 years. I started with 175 h2a workers in 1985 and there are 200 now. They have come and build families and grown prosperity for their families back home. To we will mistreat them is absolutely erroneous. I would say to you also if you come to my farm, and i invite each and everyone one of you too, every one of my farmworkers have cell phones with cameras. They have access to the internet. If we were doing anything wrong, i would be on cnn tomorrow. Back to your question about the migrant seasonal Worker Protection act. There are rules in the program that go far beyond. What it does is gives the right to private right of action meaning farmers will be carried into courts of law where they are not comfortable, particularly, maybe not even in their home state, to have to defend themselves from frivolous lawsuits. Under the h2a Program Workers are guaranteed a wage, a contract for employment and they are provided free housing and transportation. Agricultural workers are not afforded or given those rights. I wonder, what is the motive for putting the migrant seasonal protection act under the h2a program other than having action to sue in cords . Mr. Chairman, are panelists testifying against migrant and seasonal Agricultural Workers regarding the private cost of action, can i ask a question of ms. Torres on that point or mr. Costa . Under the migrant and seasonal Worker Protection act where workers have a private cost of action are we seeing thousands and thousands of private lawsuits in this area . Mr. Costa absolutely not. What we saw for the workers that actually have that right, there were 33 lawsuits nationwide last year out of the entire Farm Workforce. Chairman durbin mr. Carr, i hope the only reasons you appear on cnn will be for the quality of your peaches. Several kennedy sen. Cassidy sen. Kaine eddie it seems to me, america was born on a farm. You cannot operate a farm without workers. We cannot feed ourselves or our worldss Neighbors Without farmworkers. Sometimes we need help from neighbors who live in Foreign Countries. Is that a fair statement for mr. Costa . Mr. Costa yes, i believe immigrants play an Important Role. Senator kennedy do you believe ilLegal Immigration is illegal . Mr. Costa yes. Senator kennedy mr. Sequeira do you agree with that . Mr. Sequeira yes, sir. Senator kennedy what grade would you give the Biden Administration on combating ilLegal Immigration . Mr. Sequeira i do not know what grade i would put. I think they have made some useful improvements. But, you know, i think there is so much money going to the border that the border is mostly secure. People are mostly turning themselves in, not really crossing the border. Sen. Cassidy you are an expert on immigration and you cannot give a grade . Mr. Sequeira if i had to a c. Sen. Cassidy kcra de are we grading on a curve, senator . I would be generous and say a d. Senator kennedy all right. Cannot we agree that either the President Biden believes in open borders, or, the person that he has put in charge of making immigration policy is not qualified to manage a food truck . Mr. Sequeira i would fully reject the notion the Biden Administration believes in open borders. At the risk of being too lawyerly i would be interested in the definition of open borders. I think it is fair to say there is a lack of significant enforcement at the border. In fact, my clients. Sen kennedy let me try to put a finer point on it. Right now we have conscientious farmworkers that live in other countries, some of whom have worked here before. We have nigerian doctors. We have german engineers. Waiting years, patiently in a line trying to follow the rules of Legal Immigration to come to our country. Yet, the Biden Administration will welcome anybody that can either secretly or less than secretly come into the United States from the southern border, is that not correct . I dont believe so. I believe people at the southern border are mostly seeking humanitarian protection because there is a dire need at this hemisphere. Senator kennedy do you think my description is correct. Mr. Sequeira i do and it seems obvious from watching the evening news. Senator kennedy the agencies responsible for the Legal Immigration system are failing to process applications properly. Mr. Costa for, i would say, it depends. For lowwage work visas they are mostly processing them quickly. Senator kennedy we have a backlog of 24 million applications. What you mean it depends . Mr. Costa it depends. When it comes to other things like work permits, they have been solid. The problem is congress has not appropriated funds for them. Senator kennedy its always money. We now have a larger federal budget adjusted for inflation that we have ever had in the history of the United States of america. Mr. Sequeira, what kind of job do you think the Biden Administration has done with Legal Immigration with a 24 million person backlog . Mr. Sequeira i think any fair estimation is poor. Senator kennedy can we agree ilLegal Immigration is good and ilLegal Immigration is bad . Mr. Sequeira i would think so. The country is founded on immigration. Legal immigration is good. Senator kennedy is anybody disagreeing with that statement . Does anybody want to defend the Biden Administrations 24 Million People backlog in Legal Immigration, yet, millions have come illegally across the border . Does anybody want to defend that . Anybody . Thank you for being here. Chair durbin senator padilla. Sen. Padilla thank you chair and Ranking Member graham for convening the hearing. There is a limited time and important questions. I will ask responses to be under a minute if possible. We have established today farmworkers play a Critical Role in ensuring our domestic food supply is sustainable. Farmworkers see this firsthand. They work in jobs among the most dangerous, the most strenuous, and at least compensated in the country. Far too often with the fewest labor protections. Food security is National Security. It could not have been more clear than during the height of the covid pandemic. The first bill i introduced to the senate was my citizenship for workers act. By first question for mr. Costa. The Agricultural Industry employs about 400,000 workers. Given the significant overrepresentation of undocumented immigrants in the industry, how could providing a path for farmworkers bolster the u. S. Economy and trade relations. Mr. Costa it would bolster the economy by allowing immigrants to have rights in the workplace, labor and employment rights, and better themselves. Their wages would rise and they would be able to pay taxes and have the security of being able to go to work. 800,000 workers in california, a very large number of workers need those protections. Sen. Padilla we are paying taxes to programs. Mr. Costa i agree. Sen. Padilla as temperatures rise across the country and more and more workers, including farmworkers are at increased risk of heat illness that can lead to cramps, organ damage, heat exhaustion, stroke, death. A recent Public Citizen report says heatstroke threatens to kill 2000 workers and cause workplace injuries across the country. That is why i introduced in the heat illness and fidelity prevention act. Can you discuss what protections exist for farmworkers currently that sever from heat related injuries or what congress can better do to support these protections . Ms. Torres for most farmworkers there remains no requirement that would provide access to shade or periodic breaks to get a reprieve from the sun. Something that basic at the national level, there is no heat standard. Clearly, the bill you have introduced to us would basically do what we have done in california where farmworkers do have access to be able to take paid breaks whenever they need them, when it is hot, so they can get the reprieve. And, the water and access to water they would need. So, these are all very important things. So, we certainly encourage having the act passed. Californias only. Sen. Padilla we are not talking about shade and cool Drinking Water as a luxury. We are talking about basic protections in conditions that are on a very regular basis in parts of the country, particularly the west, temperatures of 110, 120 degrees from sunrise to sunset. Extreme weather conditions. The last topic, if i can get to it quickly, deals with Worker Protections. Despite the grueling and dangerous work, farmworkers often struggle to feed their own families because of low wages. In fact, official data tells us one third of farmworkers live below the poverty line. I think the real number is bigger. Fewer than 50 have Health Insurance are paid sick leave of any kind and do not qualify for Unemployment Insurance or other social safety net programs because of their undocumented status. Most farmworkers do not have the right to collective bargaining. Without that they can be retaliated against for organizing, or for reporting unfair labor practices or complaining about working conditions. Thats why the fairness for farmworkers acted last congress would have guaranteed overtime. A simple concept. Overtime pay and additional minimum wage protections for farmworkers. Can you describe what some of the protections would have been in california and how they helped workers . Ms. Torres overtime pay is something farmworkers around the country do not usually get to experience. In california we were able to pass an overtime law that allows for farmworkers to be able to get overtime after 40 hours worth of work. Prior to that, workers could work up to 60 hours or more, six days a week, often, 10 or more hours per day. So, what time do they get to spend with their children . You have farmworkers that are now able to spend time with their kids. They are able to get overtime like any other worker after they work 40 hours. It makes a huge difference in the quality of their lives. In addition for their paycheck. It makes a difference to be able to get paid for the very deserving backbreaking work they do. Sen. Padilla i know my time is up, but i cannot help but do a quick fact check. Earlier in the hearing senator graham cited a statistic suggesting 6070 5 of the Farm Workforce is immigrants. And was surprised it is not a higher figure. My understanding is that 60 70 5 refers specifically to undocumented. If you added lawful immigrants, visa holders that otherwise, the figure would be a lot higher. I am surprised the total figure is not in the mid to high 90s. Providing protections for farmworkers would serve as a magnet for migrants, and leading to a search at the border. Lets be real. Republicans said the same thing about the lifting of title 42. And, this urgent did not happen. The surge did not happen. For members wanting to address a regular we have to address that the pressures created for irregular migration are in large part driven by how hard we make it to come to this country lawfully. Whether it is the process, the backlog, the caps. Mr. Chair, there was no surge when title 42 was lifted and there will be no surge if we pass the farm there will be no surge if we pass the dream act. To paraphrase senator graham again, we can do a small deal, a medium deal, big deal. But my god, lets get past the pretext, past the excuses, past the rhetoric and do a deal good for growth, good for workers, good for thank you senator padilla, senator ossoff. Thank you mr. Chairman, i want to begin thinking you for being so responsive to my request to bring the kitty the committee together, and to bring representatives of farmworkers together to work on a solution here. I want to share with you and with our panel and with the public that i feel optimistic. That we are on the cusp of getting something done. That will protect farmworkers from abuse. That will protect growers from the uncertainty and volatility of work. And will address the reality that is been acknowledged by every one on the panel today, that the workforce is undocumented but lacking legal pathway to legal status which puts farm operators and growers and workers at risk. The solutions are staring us right in the face and we almost got there last congress. Eggs to Senate Thanks to senator bennetts leadership, for this close to achieving something that has eluded congress for decades. And the service that you and our panelists have done today for this committee is illustrate that now is the time, the Current Situation is untenable for voters. The Current Situation is untenable for work ors. Workers. We have the power in this committee to act and build on the bright bipartisan framework that exists. I am proud to represent georges extraordinary culinary sector. They support legislation that will give them certainty and ability on a work. And will strengthen protections for farmworkers. We know that the overwhelming majority of growers do the right thing and want to bring back h2 ale laborers year after year and build strong relationships with their employees, there is abuse. It is unacceptable. Congress can take action to prevent it. Operation blooming onion, in tauris, just after those shocking allegations were made public. I wrote a letter to state labor and ag, it is the case, is it not, farm growers in georgia recognize this as well that there is abuse and we must do more to prevent it. Do you agree . I would definitely agree, senator. Its necessary to do more and circling back to this case that you talked about, dol cannot do this work alone. That case specifically required multi agency involvement. We are talking dhs, fbi fbi, the state attorney. Its a multifaceted effort because we are dealing with the egregious abuse. But that was not a one off case. We are seeing over and over again, hearing from farmers who are calling us and calling on our team in different states that are talking about the type of abuse that they are experiencing. Thank you. Mr. Lynch found your testimony encouraging, and you echo the sentiments that i hear from georgia growers every day. That they want a common sense bipartisan solution. The Current Situation is untenable. Can you describe the impact, the uncertainty that grovers face when they are suddenly saddled with a double digit increase in the a work. And they are facing hikes. Why is it that a comprehensive bill that will divide a path to legal staff this illegal status for the undocumented workforce that we address the urgent need for growers to get certainty and state ability on their costs. I want to thank you on your work on the bipartisan effort that you tried to lead on this. It important issue, and i think you stated that well. We just do not have enough time to plan. One could rightfully say that they could manage a business that you could foresee a 15 , double digit increase, utterly in 30 days. One would manage your business that way, and we as growers cant either. It is unsustainable. The effects that it will have on us is that he will have to look at the problems that were produced, we have a multioperation in georgia and we are proud to be george brown. We want to be able to grow the diversity of crop georgia grown. We want to be able to grow a diversity of crops. Let me close by saying if we can disentangle this from washington politics. We could strengthen labor and human rights protections for workers which is urgently needed. We could address that the need of an undocumented workforce and a need shared by those workers and growers. To get on track to legal status. And we could a dry address issues around the a work that is causing instability. It will take political will. I want growers around the country to note that we are this close and we need voices raised across the nation for congress to take up that legislation that was almost passed at the end of the last congress, sit back down at the table and pass legislation to address these issues. Thank you all, met and thank you mr. Chairman. I want to thank you again for requesting this hearing. Thank you, gentlemen. First of all, let me start by saying i do not know that there is a better chairman and drinking better Ranking Member, to breathe life into the operation here. Ive been involved in at least three different bipartisan Immigration Reform effort, and i was at the center of many of them, particularly with respect to the dreamers, and Ranking Member graham has been heavily involved in them. And hearings like this, i think of hope for significant progress. There is obviously real problems with not having an adequate Farm Workforce. And i would like to ask mr. Costa, American Families that saw food prices jump dramatically recently. Do you assign any connection between that prices jump and Labor Connection . The inadequacy of the workforce . I think the fields and the difficulty of farmers finding a reliable workforce. The data has shown that most of the price increases from inflation have come from corporate increases and not from labor costs. There is a disconnection there. Would be to artist would it to our advantage to have a more reliable and stable workforce in the Farming Community and for consumers. That is why. Im asking you a obvious question but it would be great for you to explain why. Having adequate food supply is a National Security issue, i believe, and the farmers need the workforce that they need to be farmers. And the Agricultural Industry plays an Important Role in many communities including the one that i grew up in. Mr. Chairman, i would like to followup on senator padillas comments about safety and respect for the Farm Workforce. And the Supreme Court now so much the center of attention, i would like to just recall the cedar point decision. Which barred union access to farms. Like so many of the decisions of this court, this was a partisan decision. It was 63. Like so many of these decisions, that undo president and advantage corporations over regular people, this one was heavily populated with front group mmt, and even front group litigator groups. In fact the litigation was such a sam a sham, just to get an issue to the Supreme Court where the litigation groups were new that they would get a partisan victory. That they went into the lower courts asking to lose. Think about that, fourminute. I have tried a bunch of cases, and im sure ive been around a lot of trials, and ive supervised a lot of lawyers who try cases. And going into court and saying your honor, i would like to lose as quickly as possible, thats not something you see very much. And then adding up to the Circuit Court of appeals and saying, your honor, i would really like to lose this quick as possible lose as quickly as possible. I think that that behavior sends a strong message about how predictable this court is and why. We dont talk about cedar point as much as we talk about the labor case or its predecessor that had the same characteristics of front groups coming in, in the face of janice and friedrich, the front swept position. In one case though the litigating group. And in the next case there the amicus group. And then the amicus group comes the litigating group in the second case. And then you get a call saying your honor we would like to lose as quickly as possible. Its a telling signal about whats wrong whats the cart with the Supreme Court, and i wanted to touch on that today. Thank you very much mr. Chairman and to Ranking Member lindsay, i went to associate myself at the remarks of all of my colleagues. It reminds me of the dairy industry that is absolutely tickled to the wellbeing of our agricultural economy, absolutely intricle to the wellbeing of our agitprop jewel agricultural economy. Our farms need workers, and workers need protections and everything that ive heard from the panel suggest that you agree with that. We need to fix this its caught up in the situation at the southern border. Its become an excuse not to do anything that can be done concretely that will be beneficial to the Agricultural Committee community and Agricultural Workers throughout the country. We mentioned dairy, and georgette you claim it peaches. We have good peaches in vermont. But i will give it to you for purpose of discussion. Local agricultural is a tremendously important is tremendously important to the wellbeing of our communities. I appreciate the comments that you made. And the problems in congress is, because instead of coalescing around doing something that would be beneficial to the Agricultural Sector. It is part of our local region. This actor of doing this at specter of doing anything that could be seen as winning or losing on the border situation to keep us doing anything that would be beneficial all around the country. The big issue for us and dairy is the h2a program is not available and you need to melt house 365 days a year. Having Seasonal Workers as opposed minette workers doesnt work as opposed to permanent workers, doesnt work. I went to the opendoor clinic which is a Health Care Facility that was started by some volunteers in vermont for many of the Agricultural Workers. Initially, legal questions that everyone is working with, they are looking over their shoulders all of the time. Its been tremendous for workers but it shocking to me that its a big deal, shouldnt you be able to in the total light of day go see a doctor for a medical situation. Its pretty outrageous that the failure of congress to act, to protect people who we all acknowledge is fundamentally essential work, milking the cows, we acknowledge its hard work and dignified work and that the folks who did that have to worry about if they will be picked up because of them getting their medical checkup, that is on us. My hope is that we will come around to pass something that is comparable to what i passed in the house last year which is the modernization act. Is there anyone on the panel who would like to comment or go down quickly about benefits of congress coming together on that bill. And i was stuck with i will start with you this taurus, fish ms. Torres. We showed on the farmworker side that we were negotiating and working in a compromised space. You mentioned, in the context of legalization for undocumented workers, and further protections of h2a workers, be compromised on that. We have supported to ask engine of the year round supported the expansion of the yearround program with a cap. And i want to say for yearround jobs, these are some of the most coveted jobs that farmworkers want, because most of the work is seasonal. Workers who are usa domestic, lawful permanent residents want these types of jobs. We need to have a conversation in addition to when we talk about the adverse effect wage rate. Farmworkers need to be making more money, not less. Thank you, my time is up but i want to think the panel in my colleagues. I yelled back. Thank you to my colleagues and both sides of the aisle to come together. It is important. And i believe its a test for congress, one of my colleagues was asking for grades on the performance of the president. What would be degraded on the performance of congress when it comes to immigration . What would be the grade on the performance of congress when it comes to immigration . With businesses and farms represented here today, i have been involved in this immigration debate. My mother was an immigrant to this country. And i think ive made a contribution to this country as her son and my kids will as well. Immigration has made us who we are today but there are members of congress, make no mistake, who do not believe we need one single immigrant. Not one for any reason. They believe that passionately. I know because ive heard their speeches over and over again. And we have a challenge, the challenge i think, is to do it right and do it quickly. It might be too much to ask with the divided congress but we should put the effort into it. Ive been involved in comprehensive Immigration Reform. I believe that it is the only way to address, to everything is connected. This is a connected nation and economy. We ought to have a sensible policy. Look at whats going on at the border now. If we say that you go across the border with an appointment, we will consider your case but if you are turned away and you try to come back a second time, you be disqualified from 5 for five years from ever returning. Just for coming. They dont want to have that second time jeopardy. We understand that. And we have immigration quotas for certain jobs. But will line up to take those jobs. They believe that they have a chance to get from their country to our country and illegal fashion and thats appealing in a legal fashion and that is appealing to them. Ive talked to folks in chicago over and over again. I cant imagine taking their wife with a nursing infant and their daughter and making a trip to that camp. How desperate they have to be and their first question to me in chicago is not wheres the welfare office, the first question is when can i go to work, anything. Tell me, senator, a want to work and they want to work hard. And i believe, thanks mr. Carper being here. I believe that you were conscientious for reminding people to try to make a living on a very tough job. There are people that take advantage of people and everything, in business, farming, politics, it happens. I wouldnt blame any of that on you. I believe east on your Performance Today that you are in it for the right reasons. I believe based on your Performance Today that you are in it for the right reasons. From this point we will talk about the next step. I went to rely on you, senator, to meet with senator bennetts, which im sure youve done already and talk about a practical step to move toward bipartisan hearings or markup of this committee so that we can get this issue moving. We need to get off of dead dissenter and do something. We are the only committee that camp. We look to you for inspiration and leadership. I know you will deliver. With that, the Senate Judiciary committee stands adjourned. [indistinct chatter] [indistinct chatter] [indistinct chatter] Congress Returns next week for legislative business and votes. The house gavels back in monday at noon. They will consider bills to block regulations on gas stoves and they will vote on congressional oversight in the federal rulemaking process by agencies. Senators willonnue work on more of President Bidens judicial nominations including e aclu voting director to be a u. S. District court judge for southern new york. Watch live coverage of the house on csn,he senate on cspan2 and all of our congressional coverage on the video app cspan now or cspan. Org. Cspan shop. Org is cspans online store. Browse our latest collection of apparel, books, decor, and accessories, something for every cspan fan. Every purchase helps support our nonprofit operation. Shop now or anytime on cspanshop. Org. Cspan is your unfiltered view of government. Television Companies Including charter communication. 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