San Francisco Chronicle

February 10, 2005

Bill seeks legal avenue for farmworkers

- Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer

A bipartisan bill that would provide a path to legalization for half a million undocumented immigrant farmworkers -- most of them in California - - was set to be reintroduced in Congress today.

The Agricultural Jobs, Benefits and Security act, dubbed the AgJOBS bill, has the unprecedented backing of both the agricultural industry, including the California Farm Bureau, and labor advocates, including the United Farm Workers.

The measure would streamline an existing temporary visa program for foreign agricultural workers and allow undocumented farmworkers already in the United States to obtain the visa. Applicants would have to prove they had worked for at least 100 days in agriculture before August 2003 and would be subject to a criminal background check. They would have to work another 360 days in agriculture over six years to retain their visa. They would then qualify for permanent residence, and eventually citizenship.

The AgJOBS bill has support from 63 senators, including 26 Republicans, but it stalled in the Senate last year for lack of support from President Bush and the Republican leadership. It is being introduced today by Sens. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Reps. Howard Berman, D-North Hollywood, and Chris Cannon, R-Utah.