it s a job that needs to get done and many of the people who do it right now are at risk of being removed from the country under president trump s immigration policies. so why did so many farmers like paul betancourt support trump? the alternative was unthinkable. continued pressure from the federal government was squeezing us out. big issue here is water. we got no help from washington on water during the drought. and, you know, the regulatory burden continues to increase so continueuation of what we had was unthinkable. i know you supported donald trump. on the one hand, i know he s good for small businesses in some ways, but he also is tough on the immigrant workers. are you kind of caught in the middle here? i disagree with him on that. farmer, paul wenger, also supports president trump but also said deported farm workers is bad for business. we like to say your food that s going to be on your table
unthinkable. continued pressure from the federal government was squeezing us out. big issue here is water. we got no help from washington on water during the drought. and, you know, the regulatory burden continues to increase so continuation of what we had was unthinkable. i know you supported donald trump. on the one hand, i know he s good for small businesses in some ways, but he also is tough on the immigrant workers. are you kind of caught in the middle here? i disagree with him on that. farmer, paul wenger, also supports president trump but also said deported farm workers is bad for business. we like to say your food that s going to be on your table tonight is probably going to be picked by immigrant hands. the real question is, is it going to be picked by immigrant hands here in the united states and for us in california or in another country? you must work with folks pretty closely who are probably very scared. yes and no.
in 2011 he was elected to farm bureau board of directors. he s a third generation farmer and earned his bachelor s degree from cal poly san luis obispo. the next witness worked for north carolina employment security position as a technical supervisor for farm employment programs and stayedwide administrator for the h-2a program. mr. wicker has been growing tobacco with his family in lee county, north carolina, since 1978. graduated from the university of north carolina at chapel hill. our fourth witness is mr. bruce goldstein. mr. goldstein is president of farm worker justice in washington, d.c. he has substantial experience regarding h-2a temporary foreign agricultural worker program. prior to this, he worked as a labor and civil rights lawyer in southern illinois. he became a staff employee at farm worker justice in 1988. he received his bachelor s degree from cornell university. his law degree from washington university in st. louis. gentlemen, thank you very much for your
it was designed to make the cost of the program more manageable for the growers. even though the changes did improve the program, let me make it clear on one point. the h 2-a program is not structured to meet the needs of the vast majority of agriculture employees in the united states. it simply is not flexible enough to provide an adequate supply of labor in timely fashion to many growers, especially growers, especially crops across the country. i look forward to hearing the testimony today of diverse panel of witnesses who will provide their assessment of the h 2-a program. it is my hope this hearing will plant the seed for much-needed reform of our agricultural visa program. with that, i yield to my friend from california. thank you, mr. chairman. you are right. this is the third hearing before the sub committee. specifically on our agriculture work force. we have been talking about the issue for this whole congress in relation to chairman smith s proposal to implement a
learns how it is preserved for future generations. lincoln s coast on american artifacts this sunday at 8:00. agriculture and farming officials told congress today that the current immigration laws makes it difficult to find workers. there is the visa program coming to america for seasonal work. this hearing is an hour and 20 minutes. i ll call to order the sub committee on the policy and enforcement. today, we have a hearing on regional perspectives on agriculture guest worker programs. good morning to all. today s sub committee hearing represents our third hearing on the issue of seasonal agriculture worker program. this is a complex issue which impacts not only farm workers and agriculture employees, but also u.s. workers and local communities in the united states and the american taxpayer. this is a critical issue to the u.s. agriculture because real world experience has shown that there are simply not enough americans willing to work as migrant farm workers. the labo