WASHINGTON - Sen. Jeff Sessions said Wednesday he expects another Senate showdown over immigration this fall when agriculture advocates try to provide farm workers a way to stay and work legally.
Sessions, a leading critic of previous immigration proposals, said he'll oppose any legislation that gives people who crossed the border without permission a chance at citizenship. And a plan now under discussion by farm state senators would do that for 1.5 million now-illegal farm workers, he told reporters Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
"We are likely to have another major confrontation over this," Sessions said
The proposal, known for several years as AgJOBS, would give American farmers a reliable labor source, according to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a lead sponsor of the legislation. It would require undocumented workers to prove they have been a steady farm employee for at least 150 days a year, pay a fine and have a clean criminal record to qualify for the legal status, according to a summary provided by Feinstein's office.
About 70 percent of the workers in the nation's $260 billion agriculture industry are undocumented, and "without them, American farmers will not be able to fully harvest their crops," she said recently.
Democratic leaders have said they would consider adding AgJOBS to the broader farm bill when it comes up, possibly in October.
Sessions said it would give 1.5 million undocumented workers legal status, plus another 1.8 million of their family members.
"We're talking about massive increases in low-skill workers, people without language skills, far fewer high school diplomas and college credits than most any other worker group that comes to this country," Sessions said.
Sessions said he still hopes for a compromise, and meetings are ongoing.
"It is conceivable ... to work out something that could meet the legitimate needs of the country and the agriculture community without doing a massive amnesty that is not going to pass and blow up on the floor and cause a big fuss," Sessions said. He said he would endorse a temporary worker program that allows agriculture workers to stay for eight to 10 months a year and return home in between jobs.
Until then, he alerted his fellow senators in writing on Wednesday of the renewed interest in passing AgJOBS this year.
The Alabama Republican was a prominent opponent of previous immigration reform proposals, including those backed by President Bush, that included incentives for millions of undocumented people already in the United States to try and attain legal status.