RHINEBECK – Congressman
John Faso (R, Kinderhook) is co-sponsoring legislation that would help
farmers get the necessary workers from out of the country if necessary.
He made the announcement at Thursday’s 2018 Dutchess County Agricultural
Advisory Committee forum held at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds.
House of Representatives Resolution 6417 known as the Agricultural Guest
Worker Act seeks to address the workforce shortage in the United States
agricultural markets.
It is designed to create an immigrant work visa program specifically for
agricultural workers. According to Faso, there are three million illegal
farm workers in the United States and it is a practice that has been going
on for decades.
With the recent immigration crackdowns, the congressman said American
farmers are having trouble finding workers that are desperately needed.
“We will not have the workers to harvest our crops and milk our cows
unless we do something about the migrant labor issue,” Faso told
the advisory panel.
The bill would allow migrant workers classified as H-2C to work in the
United States for a maximum of 36 months continuously before having to
leave the country for a period of 60 days before they can reapply to work
in the United States.
