The American Dairy Coalition, American Business Immigration Coalition and U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden at the World Dairy Expo advocated for immigration law changes to bolster the agriculture workforce.
Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, said he wants to create a program attached to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s app that allows anyone who participates in the department’s self-deportation program to also participate in a program that grants them legal protected status for a year.
“It’s about an 80% solution,” he said during a press conference. “Right now, any one of your workers can get on the CBP One app and push a button that’ll give them a plane ticket and 1,000 bucks to go home. I just want another button, add it on there, where you push the button and you go into a legal protected status for a year.”
Without immigrant agriculture labor, the U.S. will become “inherently dependent” on foreign nations to feed its own people, he said.
“I’m saying out loud what no Republican wants to say, that if we don’t retain our current agriculture labor workforce, our farms are going to close,” Van Orden said.
The fact that people who entered the U.S. illegally would have to first exit the country and then return through a legal port of entry is a crucial part of the bill, he added.
“This is why this is not amnesty, and it is not a pathway to citizenship other than one that exists already,” he said, noting those who come into the country under a protected legal status could still apply for citizenship, just like anyone else.
ADC Founder and CEO Laurie Fischer said the fact that it’s not about amnesty is key for helping lawmakers and President Donald Trump get the legislation across the finish line.
“We’ve been told for 20 years that reform couldn’t happen until the border was secure,” she said. “Well, the border is secure. Now is the time to move something. Let me make it clear: None of us are asking for amnesty — we’re asking for legal, year-round status so our workers and our farms can thrive.”
Anyone who committed a crime other than entering the country illegally would not be eligible for the program, Van Orden added.
He also stressed how unpopular the idea is with some of his colleagues, but underscored the need for change.
“And I’ve gotten a lot of flack for this, but I’ve also gotten massive amounts of support,” he said. “Ninety-four percent of all total land in the United States is represented by Republicans. And so if Republicans are not supporting this, they are not doing what they should be doing, which is representing their districts.”
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