John Hope Bryant: “Mr. Chairman, this should be an easy decision for all of us. This is an amendment that proposes to allow 250,000 foreign…”

“Mr. Chairman, this should be an easy decision for all of us. This is an amendment that proposes to allow 250,000 foreign workers to come into the country to do work that could be done by American workers. We have already been through this once. In 1986 we faced this situation, and many will remember that we at that time granted amnesty to what ultimately were, I think, 1.1 million people that had become workers on whom growers principally in southern California were dependent. It was the hardest vote and the most difficult decision of the entire bill. We did it because it was the right thing to do. We should not be in a position to have to do it again. That is exactly where this amendment is going to lead us. Second, we have got to get away from this idea that we have the obligation or the need to bring foreign workers into the country in order to deal with our economic needs. The fact of the matter is, there is a surplus of seasonal farm workers, and in fact even now 50 percent of seasonal farm workers live in poverty. There is a surplus of these folks. There are thousands of them available. Mr. Chairman, I submit to the authors of the amendment and to those listening to this debate that there is not any credible study that indicates there is a need to bring in 250,000 people to do work on our farms in this country, and I urge Members to vote against it.”