Washington, D.C. - The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the nation's largest Latino civil rights organization, and the Farmworker Justice Fund (FJF), a litigation and advocacy group for farmworkers, announced their opposition to legislation introduced in the Senate today which would expand the workforce of exploitable foreign workers in agriculture. The first bill introduced in the Senate today by Senators Bob Graham (D-FL) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) would vastly expand the H-2A guestworker program; the second would establish a program to adjust the status of farmworkers working illegally in the United States, but without the protections usually associated with guestworker programs.

NCLR President Raul Yzaguirre, summarizing his organization's opposition, stated "America's farmworkers live and labor under conditions that resemble the 19th century as the rest of us are preparing to enter the 21st; both these bills would make that already intolerable situation worse." Bruce Goldstein, Co-Executive Director of FJF, added, "It's particularly cruel and cynical to hold out the hope of 'legalization' when in fact what these Senators are proposing is a system of indentured servitude."

Both organization noted that their strong objections to these bills did not imply that they are opposed to legalizing the status of undocumented farmworkers. "This proposal ties these workers to agriculture for a period of five to seven years; this means that workers who ever hope to become immigrants are at the mercy of their employers, who will be free to exploit them, knowing that if they complain, they lose their hope of legal status. Surely we can do better," stated Goldstein. Yzaguirre added, "If the agricultural industry is interested in legalizing workers and keeping them in the fields, perhaps they should consider improving conditions, rather than forbidding workers from seeking jobs elsewhere. The effect of this large-scale program would be to lower wages and prevent farmworkers from ameliorating their plight."

With respect to the H-2A expansion, Goldstein said, "There is no justification for lowering wages and reducing the protections under the H-2A guestworker program, which has been criticized repeatedly for failing to ensure decent treatment of farmworkers." "Latinos have long memories; we will not allow the excesses of the notorious bracero program to be repeated," continued Yzaguirre.

Noting that the legislation has little chance of enactment this year, Yzaguirre pointed out, "These bills are being introduced as this session of Congress comes to a close; we remember last year's speedy consideration of similar legislation, and would hope that the Senate will give this issue the thorough and thoughtful consideration it deserves."