CITY BACKS RESIDENCY BILL PROPOSAL OFFERS FARM WORKERS LEGAL STATUS.Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer The Los Angeles City Council  The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. voted Friday to support federal
legislation that would grant legal residency status to as many as
500,000 farm workers nationwide.
The 13-0 vote by the council in support of SB 1645 by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., also came with a plea to Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (German pronunciation (IPA): [ˈaɐ̯nɔlt ˈaloɪ̯s ˈʃvaɐ̯ʦənˌʔɛɡɐ] - the husband of Kennedy's niece, Maria Shriver Maria Owings Shriver (pronounced: /'ʃɹaɪvɚ/) (born November 6, 1955) is an American journalist and the wife of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and, as such, the First Lady of California. - to join in supporting the measure. ``This is legislation that both the United Farm Workers The United Farm Workers of America (UFW) is a labor union that evolved from unions founded in 1962 by César Chávez, Philip Vera Cruz, Dolores Huerta, and Larry Itliong. This union changed from a workers' rights organization that helped workers get unemployment insurance to that of and the agricultural industry agree is needed,'' City Council President Alex Padilla Alex Padilla is a politician in California. He was elected as the State Senator for the 20th District of California in November 2006 and was inaugurated in early December. In order to enter the Senate he had to resign as Councilman for the 7th District on the Los Angeles City said. ``We have people who live in fear and this will give them a chance to take advantage of life here after they have worked here for so many years.'' Padilla said he'd sent a letter to Schwarzenegger asking him to back the measure, which also has the support of Rep. Howard Berman Howard Lawrence "Howie" Berman (born April 15 1941) has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1983, representing the 28th District of California (map). , D-Van Nuys. Schwarzenegger's aides said he had not yet seen the letter. The Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act would grant temporary legal status to immigrants who have worked as farm workers at least 100 days between February 2002 and August 31, 2003. If those workers then do an additional 360 days of farm work over the next six years, they can become U.S. citizens. ``This is not an amnesty bill,'' said Christine Chavez, granddaughter of the late Cesar Chavez, an immigrants-rights advocate who founded the United Farm Workers. ``This is a bill that allows farm workers to achieve legal status by continuing to work in agriculture. ``The rich bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables on the dinner tables of Los Angeles and the nation comes from the seat and sacrifice of immigrant farm workers.'' Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization in the United States that advocates for reforms of U.S. immigration policies that would result in significant immigration reduction. , said his organization opposes the measure for short-cutting immigration immigration, entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. procedures. ``Despite what they say, we see it as essentially an amnesty program,'' Mehlman said. ``Our position always has been that rewarding illegal immigration is wrong because it only encourages more illegal immigration. ``When they argue that only illegal immigrants take these jobs, it is because the agriculture industry pays such low wages and has such intolerable working conditions. If they improved those conditions, more people would be willing to do this work.'' Rick Orlov, (213) 978-0390 rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com |
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