DENVER — A coalition of leaders in the restaurant and hospitality industries is urging Congress to provide immediate work permits for immigrant food workers.
They also urged Congress to pass Colorado Congressman Gabe Evans' bipartisan immigration reform bill, which they believe will provide a long-term solution.
Politics
Rep. Gabe Evans' bill would provide legal status to some undocumented immigrants
As the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement efforts, farms have been among the locations U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have set their sights on.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 42% of farm workers in the U.S. are without legal work authorization.
The raids not only have leaders in the agriculture industry worried, but some leaders in the restaurant and hospitality industries are also concerned. They say increased enforcement actions and the lack of a clear path to legal status have created fear among workers and their families. They say that unless a solution is found, it will harm other parts of the economy.
“We're going down what I would call [a] great risk for the economy, and that is empty shelves, rising prices and businesses closing. That is the path we're on if we don't do something,” said Emily Knight, the CEO and president of the Texas Restaurant Association. “And that is not just a risk to our immigrant population, it is a risk to every American.”
Knight was among a group of restaurant and hospitality leaders who participated in a press conference on Thursday to mark the launch of a national campaign highlighting the contributions of immigrant food workers. The American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC) and the James Beard Foundation launched the campaign.
The group also urged President Donald Trump and federal lawmakers to provide work permits for food workers.
"There is a very large percentage of individuals that are preparing food every day, that are contributing in our kitchens, that are making a difference, that need to have a path to a work permit to continue paying their taxes and contributing to the economy and their communities," Knight said.
Colorado Congressman Gabe Evans also participated in the press conference. He said the Dignity Act, which he introduced along with a bipartisan group of lawmakers in July, would provide a long-term solution by giving agriculture, hospitality and other workers who are unauthorized a pathway to legal status.
“They want to work hard; they want to pay their taxes; they want to raise their families here. They want to be those contributing members of American society,” Evans said. “We just have to give them a pathway forward to be able to legally have that work authorization. And so that's what the Dignity Act does.”
The bill would create a program that would offer legal status to undocumented immigrants who were in the country before 2021. They would be required to pay any back taxes they owe and $7,000 in restitution. They must also remain in good standing.
"We know this is something that is critical, not just for those immigrants who are looking for that pathway forward, but for the American economy,” said Evans.
- Read the full Dignity Act legislation below
While immigrants who meet the conditions would be allowed to stay, they would not be eligible for federal benefits. The bill would also increase border security, target traffickers and criminal smugglers, and mandate the use of E-Verify for employers nationwide.
Knight described Evans' proposal as a "common sense solution."
Evans said now is the time to pass the legislation because the Trump administration has made significant progress securing the border.
"That's why I think now is the perfect time to have this conversation, because we do have that border security and that strong emphasis on the rule of law and making sure that the bad elements no longer can really taint this conversation," Evans said. "We can actually have a productive conversation about how do we fix the broken immigration system."
Evans has received criticism from some who call his proposal amnesty. He said those claims are inaccurate because the bill does not offer citizenship and requires immigrants to meet several requirements, including paying back taxes.
“This is not an amnesty bill,” Evans said. “This is a bill for people who want the accountability of earning a path to some sort of legal status.”
It’s unclear if the bill has enough support to make it through Congress. Other bipartisan immigration reform proposals have failed in the past.
“We have to work hand in hand with the administration to make sure that whatever we put together and whatever ends up on [the president’s] desk is something that he'll actually sign,” Evans said. “I can't really speak for the administration, but I don't think that this is lost on the administration. I mean, the president himself comes out of the hospitality industry, and so we've heard comments that he's made in the past about, you know, we can't leave our farmers with no one.”
