Congressman David G. Valadao Co-Sponsors Farm Workforce Modernization Act

WASHINGTON — Today, Rep. David G. Valadao signed on as an original co-sponsor to the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, a bipartisan bill negotiated to provide long-overdue stability to the agriculture industry and agricultural workers alike. This legislation establishes a program for agriculture workers currently in the United States to earn legal status. This bill also changes the H-2A program to provide more flexibility for farmers employing immigrant farm workers, while also providing critical protections for the farm workers. In addition, this legislation would allow dairy farmers to have access to year-round workers through the visa program.

“As the son of immigrants and lifelong dairy farmer, I know firsthand how desperately our agriculture workforce needs meaningful reform,” said Congressman Valadao. “Many industries in the Central Valley rely heavily on immigrant labor. Our farm workers are absolutely critical to our collective mission of reliably feeding America, yet many live in fear due to an inability to gain legal status through our broken immigration system. Ensuring that our essential farm workers already in the states receive legal status, while also simplifying and streamlining the process for future flow of workers, is just common sense.”

Bill text can be found here.

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