Mar 2, 2022

AmericanHort Joins in Urging Immigration Reform Before Midterms

A new coalition, the Alliance for a New Immigration Consensus, or ANIC, on March 2 called for bipartisan reform of immigration and border security ahead of the November 8, 2022 midterm election.

Nearly 30 diverse members of ANIC include AmericanHort. Other members listed on the ANIC website include the International Fresh Produce Association and Western Growers. The group consists “of faith and education leaders, the business community and advocates,” according to a news release from ANIC.

The group hopes to “build support for bipartisan legislative solutions that would provide permanent legal protections and other reforms for Dreamers and agricultural workers, in addition to orderly, secure and humane processes at our borders,” according to the news release. “Dreamers” refers to undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as minors and who would have been offered temporary conditional residency under the never-passed DREAM Act, or Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, which was first introduced in 2001.

Members of ANIC sent a letter March 2, 2022, to Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, asking for action on immigration reform.

“At no other point in recent history has the need for immigration reform been greater than it is today. Simply put, the system is broken,” the members wrote in their letter.“Millions of workers, many of whom were indispensable to the nation’s COVID-19 response, are living in legal jeopardy. Apprehensions at the southern border are at historic highs. And employers are struggling to find workers to fill jobs in many industries.”

The letter outlined three priorities for Congress ahead of the midterm elections:

• “Address the uncertainty that dominates the everyday lives of so many undocumented immigrants seeking to contribute to our economy;
• “Tackle issues facing our border and strengthen our nation’s ability to manage the border in a secure, orderly and humane manner; and
• “Solve the workforce limitations in our agricultural sector that are currently contributing to supply chain issues and raising cost concerns.”

Fall 2021 polling by The LIBRE Initiative indicates that 93% of voters agree that immigration reforms are necessary and urgent, according to ANIC’s news release.