Big business executives and corporate donors to both Democrats and Republicans are hoping Congress passes an amnesty for millions of illegal aliens working on United States farms amid this year’s midterm elections that could see the GOP take control of both chambers.
Executives with the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition and the American Business Immigration Coalition, two groups representing big businesses and big-dollar donors, said they want to see Congress pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act which would give amnesty to 2.1 million illegal aliens working on U.S. farms.
“… during lame duck [is a] win-win, right?” Laura Reiff with the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition told Politico. “The elections dust is settled. You’ve got six weeks to pull something together.”
“… we need labor, and the truth is Americans just don’t want to be milking cows at 4 a.m.,” Rebecca Shi with the American Business Immigration Coalition said.
In actuality, research has shown that there are no jobs Americans will not do. While illegal aliens and legal immigrants make up a sizeable portion of the farm workforce in the U.S., agriculture employees make up less than one percent of the entire American workforce.
Likewise, though Shi claims the U.S. needs more foreign workers willing to milk cows for long hours and in difficult working conditions, machines and robots already do that work.
The business groups and donors see the farmworker amnesty as particularly viable because a number of House Republicans voted for the plan last year, including:
Reps. Mark Amodei (R-NV), Cliff Bentz (R-OR), James Baird (R-IN), Michael Bost (R-IL), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Carlos Giminez (R-FL), Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), Chris Jacobs (R-NY), David Joyce R-OH), John Katko (R-NY) Douglas LaMalfa (R-CA), Dan Newhouse (R-WA), Devin Nunes, (R-CA), Thomas Reed (R-NY), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Michael Simpson (R-ID), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Glen Thompson (R-PA), Fred Upton (R-MI), and Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ).
Political Action Committees (PACs) aligned with the business associations and corporations involved with Essential Worker Immigration Coalition and the American Business Immigration Coalition have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent years to Democrats and Republicans.
The American Hotel & Lodging Association, via PACs, gave $30,000 to the Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee this election cycle and $30,000 to the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, also via its PAC, has given more than $231,000 to Republicans this year and $79,000 to Democrats.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has repeatedly said he will not bring any amnesty plan to the House floor if Republicans take back the chamber following this year’s midterm elections.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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