Dairy Farmers In Need of

Comprehensive Immigration Reform

I recently read an article that demonstrated America’s pervasive need for comprehensive immigration reform.  The article examines how dairy farmers in Minnesota cannot find American workers that are willing to work the long hours in tough conditions that is required to farm.  These dairy farmers, who many see as the backbone of American culture, are turning to foreign national workers who are willing to work those long hours.  Unfortunately, as mentioned in the article, those willing foreign national workers may not always be authorized to work.

As an individual who grew up on a dairy farm (and subsequently left to become an attorney), I know first hand the difficulty farmers have in obtaining competent, hard-working workers.  If a farmer is unable to find Americans willing to work, but has a readily available pool of other individuals willing to work, why should the government not step forward and create a better mechanism for matching those seeking workers and those willing to work?

Comprehensive Immigration Reform is often painted with broad brush strokes.  However, true immigration reform will need to be a composite of smaller brush strokes that each address one of the many immigration situations in the country – including the need for dairy farm workers.

Thank you to fellow immigration attorney Greg Siskind for finding this article.