Most of the workers who hand harvest the crops in our multi-billion dollar agricultural industry are immigrants and the majority lack legal documentation—despite our dependence on them. On May 14th, the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act - AgJOBS was reintroduced in the Senate by Sen. Diane Feinstein (SB 1038) and in the House by Reps. Berman and Putnam (HR 2414). AgJOBS is a bi-partisan bill agreed to by both farm worker advocates and major agricultural employers to address the agricultural immigration crisis. It allows immigrant farm workers to earn the legal right to permanently stay in this country by continuing to work in agriculture and reforms the current H2A guestworker program, providing growers with a safe and stable workforce.

Contact your Congress Member to support AgJOBS
Read a news story about AgJOBs.
 
 

AgJOBS is the most important piece of legislation affecting farmworkers in decades. In 2005, AgJOBS was included in the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act that was passed in the Senate but was never sent to a conference committee to be reconciled with legislation passed in the House.

Ag-Jobs benefits growers and workers
The Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act ("AgJOBS") represents a major compromise between farmworker advocates (led by the United Farm Workers) and major agricultural employers to address the agricultural immigration crisis. It allows immigrant farm workers to earn the legal right to permanently stay in this country by continuing to work in agriculture and reforms the current H2A guestworker program, providing growers with a safe and stable workforce.

Ag-Jobs Means Fairness
AgJOBS strengthens protections for workers' rights, decent pay, and working conditions. It makes dangerous illegal border crossings unnecessary for hundreds of thousands of workers and allows farm worker families to stay together and fully participate in the society they help feed.

This compromise only applies to workers in the agricultural industry and does not address the needs of other undocumented workers. While this is a historic compromise, it is only the first step to broader reform of our current immigration system.

Summaries of AgJobs Bill 2007
Click here to read a 2 page summary of the original AgJOBS bill (Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act of 2007) from Farmworker Justice.
Click here to read a 6 page summary of the same.