Leaders of Ventura County labor unions, human rights groups and the farming industry were quick to praise the U.S. Senate’s passage of the comprehensive immigration reform bill that provides a path to citizenship for 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally. (Read the full story about the bill.)
But they also recognize that the work is far from over as the legislation enters the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where significant debate is expected over the immigration system overhaul.
“We knew that it was going to be an uphill battle,” said Maricela Morales, deputy executive director of the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE).
“2013 is our small window of opportunity,” she said Thursday. “Next year — 2014 — at a national level, congressional representatives are gearing up for their re-elections, so those representatives that are in communities that are not supportive of immigration reform will feel a lot more pressure.”
While Morales stressed the importance of passing the immigration reform bill within the next six months, she said the bill has great limitations and efforts to protect the approximately 71,000 immigrants living in Ventura County without legal permission that would extend far beyond that deadline.
“We are glad that something is moving forward, but we just want to be open-eyed about what it really includes,” she said. “It provides some relief to protect millions of people from threat of deportation, which is very real and very scary and rips families apart, so that’s definitely a positive.”
There are countless local residents that have been keeping a close eye on the bill as it moves through Congress out of fear of being separated from their families.
For example, David Gonzalez, a recipient of the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is allowed to remain in the country as he starts college in the fall even though he is not here legally. But his parents, who work at an Oxnard packing facility, do not have the same protection.
And Leticia Santibanez is the mother of two, who are U.S. citizens, but she cannot obtain legal residency through her husband — also a citizen — because she has more than one illegal entry into the country.
Even though immigrants in the country illegally would be able to apply for provisional legal status if the bill becomes law, Morales of CAUSE said the bill does not do enough with its “incredibly onerous so-called path to citizenship.”
“The bill itself is really about border enforcement — doubling the number of border patrol agents,” she said. “What it lays out in terms of a pathway to citizenship is very very narrow, very limited. Four to 5 million people at some point in the next 10 to 20 years would have some protection — that’s a step forward but it comes at a great cost.”
Other local groups said the current bill is a compromise for most interested parties, but said the proposed immigration overhaul is a step in the right direction to fix what many call a broken system.
United Farm Workers organized events throughout California Thursday and Friday to celebrate the passage of the bill and start preparing for the next round in the House, Regional Director Lauro Barajas said.
“Wow, that’s a good sign,” Barajas said after learning of the more than two-thirds support in the Senate. “We’ve been working like crazy for a lot of years.”
Local farmworkers plan to meet briefly at a Moorpark farm Friday to celebrate the legislation moving forward.
Rob Roy, president and general counsel of the Ventura County Agricultural Association in Camarillo and legal representative for many Ventura County growers, said he was very happy to see movement on the immigration bill that could help solve the farmworker labor shortage.
“There’s a 100-page component within the Senate immigration bill that deals specifically with the agricultural industry and, fortunately, throughout this senatorial process there hasn’t been any amendments that deal with the agricultural component,” Roy said. “We’re very gratified that that portion of the bill is intact.”
Roy said a separate immigrant guest worker program bill was introduced in the House, but it “doesn’t go as far as the Senate bill.”
“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Roy said. “It’s going to be a very polarizing debate for many reasons. We’re gearing up for that debate.”
Alicia Flores, executive director of Oxnard’s La Hermandad Mexicana, a California-based immigrant rights nonprofit, said she spent the last week touring Republican congressional representatives’ offices throughout Southern California and is optimistic the bill will pass.
“Everybody told us that they support immigration reform,” she said. “The only concern they have is the border and border security As long as the borders are secure, they’re willing to support immigration reform.”
Flores agreed that the bill needs to succeed by the end of the year and noted there are plans to “pressure Congress and let them know that we cannot continue waiting.”
“People don’t want to come illegally — they don’t want to risk their lives,” she said. “They just want to come and work and provide for their families.”