Real Property

Washington, 14 may (EFE) .- Leaders of both houses of U.S. Congress today promoted a bill that, if approved, would grant temporary legalization for up to five years to 1.35 million undocumented agricultural workers, many of them in California.

Its sponsors, including Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein and Howard Berman, also a Democrat, the House of Representatives, today presented the Bill, called in English AgJobs to stabilize the labor market in the country's agricultural sector.

not the first time that leaders of Congress proposing the legalization of undocumented workers in agriculture, but this time its promoters hope that comes to fruition under the Government of Barack Obama.

The shortage of agricultural workers in the U.S., explained Feinstein and other legislators in a joint communique is causing losses from coast to coast in states like Maine, California, Washington and Georgia, where the crop is virtually rot.

This makes the economy, beset by a recession, lost billions of dollars, but the measure introduced today will help ensure a consistent and reliable agricultural labor for that farmers never lost crops due to lack of workers, said Feinstein.

The main issue here is not immigration, is the protection and preservation of the U.S. economy, he said.

According to the Congress, between 2007 and 2008 the shortage of workers stopped work in at least 405,000 hectares of arable land throughout the United States.

They warned that if U.S. does not correct the problems in the sector with initiatives such as AgJobs, the country could lose between 5,000 and 9,000 million dollars in sales to foreign competition over the next two years.

The measure, Now that is sponsored by 16 lawmakers in both houses of Congress, seeks to reform the program of temporary workers visas H-2A.

Its main elements, the measure provides a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already employed in the agricultural sector.

Specifically, it authorizes the establishment of a pilot program for five years to identify undocumented agricultural workers and legalize temporarily by issuing a blue card with biometric data, those who carry at least two years in the fields of U.S.

Workers with the blue card will have the opportunity to apply for permanent residence with paying a fine of $ 500 if they meet certain requirements such as paying your taxes and show that they have no criminal record.

In addition, initiative reform the visa system H-2A, so that farmers can rely on guest workers to harvest time.

Various groups for immigrants in the country and agricultural sector unions have expressed support for the bill, but believe the government should reform the whole system of immigration.