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Tom Nassif, president and CEO of Western Growers, on Senate immigration plan
Story Date: 4/18/2013
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Source: PRESS RELEASE, 4/17/13
Good afternoon, my name is Tom Nassif, I am the president and CEO of Western Growers. Our members grow, pack and ship nearly half the fresh vegetables, tree fruit and tree nuts produced in the United States.
Today represents a historic achievement for all the groups represented here this afternoon. Both the partners in the Ag Workforce Coalition and the United Farmworkers Union care deeply about resolving the immigration crisis facing our country. The agreement our groups came to is a crucial step in solving this crisis and securing a stable and legal workforce for agriculture for years to come.
The agriculture component in the legislation introduced by the Senate Gang of 8 is the product of many months of negotiations within the agriculture community and with worker representatives. The force of agricultural producers and worker representatives working together now in support of this legislation will play a significant role in achieving immigration reform this year.
Senators Feinstein, Rubio, Bennet, and Hatch played critical roles in getting us to this day and we express our appreciation to them. Throughout this process, we have worked through many important and difficult issues, including wage rates for future workers, legalization for our existing workforce, worker protections, and caps on a future visa program. Each side had to make compromises and while this agreement doesn’t do everything each of us wants, each side has come away with an agreement that we can support and that goes a long way in addressing our many concerns. We look forward to working together to support this agreement throughout the legislative process.
We look forward to answering your question.
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