Immigration Reform

Floor Speech

Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, for the first time in recent history, Congress has a real opportunity to pass comprehensive legislation to fix our broken immigration system.

Legislation being backed by a bipartisan group of Senators has done what many previous proposals have failed to do, and that is to gain broad support and to balance the needs of all of the interests of our country. I have been working closely with Members on both sides of the aisle in the House and in the Senate and with agricultural organizations and farm workers to make sure that the concerns of California's agricultural communities are met. The Senate's plan provides a legal and stable workforce for agricultural and critical protections for those who work very hard every day to put safe, healthy food on our Nation's dinner tables. Without these provisions, it would have been a deal-breaker for our valley.

Naysayers might say it's time to wait, but that's motivated simply by political interests, not reality. It's time for immigration reform now. It's time for the House to act and to come together. It's time to pass this bipartisan effort to fix America's broken immigration system.

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