Migrant Farmworkers at the CUTTING EDGE of Immigration Policy

Abstract

Migrant farmworkers in the United States remain on the cutting edge of federal immigration policy. While migrant farmworkers are not a new phenomenon in the United States, farmworker advocates and representatives of agricultural employers have reached a new compromise on immigration. A strong bipartisan coalition in Congress is seeking to enact this compromise. President George W. Bush’s immigration policy statement of January 7, 2004, did not discuss the farmworker compromise, but gave impetus to immigration legislation. The upcoming resolution of the migrant farmworker debate will have important consequences for immigration policy and our nation’s democratic freedoms.