Comprehensive immigration reform: Pro-growth and pro-agriculture

Earlier this year, the U.S. Senate passed a commonsense immigration reform measure in a strongly bipartisan fashion. This was an important step in the right direction — especially for producers, farm workers and rural communities.

  The historic legislation passed by the Senate provides a pathway to earned citizenship for the 11 million people who are in our country today without authorization. They will have to go to the back of the line, pay fines and settle taxes they owe our nation.

It would modernize the system that we use to bring skilled workers into the United States. And it would put in place the toughest border security plan that America has ever seen — building on steps that have reduced illegal border crossings to their lowest level in decades.

  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that the Senate bill would reduce the deficit over the next 20 years by nearly $850 billion, and the Social Security Administration estimates that this immigration bill would add nearly $300 billion to the Social Security system in the next decade.

This bill is also important for rural America. Recently, the White House economic team released a new report highlighting the positive economic benefits that common sense immigration reform would provide for agriculture and rural communities.

  The report highlights research showing that without a stable workforce, America’s record agricultural productivity will decline in coming years. In Montana, for example, eliminating the immigrant labor force would cost more than $12.5 million in short-term production losses.

  The Senate bill addresses this concern by taking much-needed steps to ensure a stable agricultural workforce, and a fair system for U.S. producers and farm workers.  In particular, it would give qualifying farm workers an expedited path to earned citizenship, as long as they continue to work in agriculture. A new temporary worker program would replace the current H-2A visa program over time and allow farm workers a three-year visa to work year-round in any agricultural job.

This common sense system wouldn’t just prevent a decline in production — it would grow the economy. Research highlighted in the White House report projects that an expanded temporary worker program would increase both production and exports across our agriculture sector.

Under the Senate proposal, USDA would play a greater role in implementing farm labor programs and ensuring that farmers and ranchers have all the information they need. As Congress continues to work on this issue, Secretary Vilsack and all of us at USDA are committed to working with lawmakers to be sure they have any technical assistance they might need to finalize these proposals.

Immigration reform is very important for farmers, farm workers and communities across rural America. The majority of our agriculture workforce is made up of immigrants, and their hard work has helped America's farmers and ranchers lead the world. To remain competitive and keep driving economic growth in rural America, we need rules that work. Rural America needs Congress to act as soon as possible to carry forward the work of the U.S. Senate and fix today's broken immigration system.

(Bruce Nelson, a fourth-generation Montanan and wheat farmer, serves as state executive director of the USDA Montana Farm Service Agency. He can be reached at 406-587-6872 or [email protected]. Anthony Preite serves as state director of USDA Rural Development in Montana. He can be reached at 406-585-2580 or [email protected].)