A Republican congressman says the GOP’s border bill doesn’t work for farmers or farm workers. H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act passed in the House last week with a vote of 219 to 213. All Democrats were opposed and all but two Republicans were in favor. One of those two Republicans was John Duarte of California. In an interview with AgNet Media, he said he cast a “no” vote for two reasons. First, the bill’s handling of the E-Verify program.
“It tied in an E-Verify program that would have been devastating for food producers or would have been devastating for farmworker families,” he said. “It would have also criminalized many employers who have been participating in E-Verify but would find out that a great portion of their workforce is no longer able to continue working for them. It would have destabilized our food producers and it would destabilize communities in my district, really hurt a lot of families, and heighten food inflation. So, the E-Verify policy wasn’t well thought through. It needs to be balanced. With the guestworker program ended DACA fix to be fair.”
Secondly, Representative Duarte thinks the GOP can create a better bill with better chances of becoming law.
“The bill itself won’t stop the chaos at the border until we tie in a few sweeteners,” he said and explained that Republicans needed to have something in the bill to encourage Democratic support. “Otherwise, we’re not going to pass any bill that’s going to make it to the president’s desk and cause any relief of the crisis at our border. So, we need to pass a bill with a bipartisan bill that addresses ag workers that addresses E-Verify and addresses DACA in a way where we attract Democrat support.”
H.R. 2 is not likely to pass the Democrat-controlled Senate. Even if it did, the White House has indicated intentions of a veto. Duarte said was not making a stand against his party, but instead standing up for the farmers in his district.
“What I was really doing there was not so much trying to kill the bill, but raising my hand and inviting some of those who want to work a little harder to produce a bill that can produce that can deliver real results. Someone to talk to on our side that would work with Democrats and Republicans to produce an immigration border bill that has a chance of bringing real change and getting the border under control,” he said.
The other Republican to vote against the bill was Thomas Massie of Kentucky.
Listen to the AgNet Weekly for the full interview with Congressman John Duarte (R-CA).
Sabrina Halvorson
National Correspondent / AgNet Media, Inc.
Sabrina Halvorson is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and public speaker who specializes in agriculture. She primarily reports on legislative issues and hosts The AgNet News Hour and The AgNet Weekly podcast. Sabrina is a native of California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley.