•      "But let’s be clear: reviving a bill negotiated in 2019 falls short of what today’s farm labor crisis demands. Farmers need a solution that reflects current realities and keeps their operations viable...The agricultural industry looks quite different today than it did six years ago…Between natural disasters, falling commodity prices, soaring input and labor costs, and additional regulatory burdens, many producers today have gone out of business. As such, we believe that a straightforward reintroduction of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act as written does not fundamentally make the reforms needed to keep our agricultural producers in business…Much like farm bills are updated every five years in recognition of the changing conditions faced by ag producers, so too should an ag labor bill that was first drafted six years ago…America’s farmers are in the grips of a worsening labor crisis that threatens our domestic food supply. Despite fast-rising wages and increased reliance on the H-2A guest worker program, growers across the country are struggling to find enough workers to plant, tend, and harvest their crops and care for their animals…The problem is multifaceted: an aging domestic workforce, scant interest from U.S.-born workers, and a guest worker program that remains too costly, seasonal, and bureaucratic for many operations." Source: Agriculture Workforce Coalition

•      "The legalization program proposed in the FWMA is a very long process and will exclude many farmworkers who can't work 100 days per year. The pathway to citizenship would exclude undocumented people that used to work in the fields but can’t or aren’t any longer. This excludes many who are reaching the end of their physical abilities to continue the work, but who have given decades of their life to our food system…We oppose the H2-A provisions in the FWMA because the H2-A program, which has been called "close to slavery," exploits farmworkers and has a long record of labor violations. The rapid growth of the H2-A program, with more than 275,000 H2-A holders last year, hurts domestic workers. Growers are replacing domestic workers with H2-A workers. Domestic workers are pressured to work harder for less money because they fear replacement. Growers are allowed to discriminate against women and older workers by only hiring young men in the H2-A program…The bill does not afford workers the right to organize. There is no provision in the FWMA that guarantees labor rights. Growers can and do fire H2-A workers when they protest and organize. Workers who are unjustly fired are deported and blacklisted." Source: Myrna Martinez Nateras, Pan Valley Institute Director

•      "While many Americans acknowledge our immigration system needs to be reformed to ensure it meets the needs of U.S. interests, this proposal is not only not a solution, it is a step in the wrong direction. For starters, this bill would grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants without doing anything to reform our broken immigration system…Proposing amnesty, particularly of this magnitude, while the country is amid an illegal immigration crisis, is an insult to all Americans. Amnesty rewards those who have broken the law by offering them a pathway to legal status and citizenship and should always be opposed. This proposal is particularly egregious as it puts those who came here illegally on a pathway to citizenship that isn’t even afforded to those who came here legally…In passing this legislation, Congress would be piling on to the Biden administration’s dubious immigration orders and send a clear message—there is little reason for would-be immigrants to follow our immigration laws. Rather than granting amnesty, Congress should pursue real reforms that move our immigration system towards a merit-based system that does not reward or incentivize law-breaking." Source: Heritage Action For America