Idaho Lawmakers Working on Plea to Federal Government to Allow Illegal Immigrants to Stay and Work in Idaho

A group of Idaho Lawmakers are working on Senate Joint Memorial 101, a plea to the Biden Administration and US Congress to allow illegal immigrants who work in Idaho to stay and continue working. It also asks that future immigrants and their immediate families be allowed to enter the Idaho workforce by merely paying a fine “in satisfaction of their immigration-related violations.” The memorial details the failures of the federal government in handling the immigration system as a whole, and explains Idaho’s immediate and ongoing need to include immigrant labor in the workforce.

Co-Sponsors of the memorial include Senator Jim Guthrie, Senator Treg Bernt, Senator Linda Hartgen, Senator Chuck Winder, Representative Judy Boyle, Representative Chenele Dixon, Representative Rod Furniss, Representative Stephanie Mickelsen, Representative Jack Nelsen, Representative Jerald Raymond, Representative Lori McCann, and Representative Melissa Durran.

The statement of purpose prepared by Guthrie states,

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“The Federal government controls immigration, naturalization and entry to the United States. The Federal government has failed to meet its responsibility to secure our Nation, at and within its borders, and has failed to provide a guestworker Visa program that can meet the labor demands of domestic business, particularly as relates to year-round agriculture, construction, food processing, manufacturing and hospitality industries. This Memorial expresses the desire of Idaho citizens and business that the Federal immigration system be modernized to secure the border, to provide for a legal workforce of guestworkers, and asks that Idaho’s delegation become National leaders on this topic.”

The text of the memorial includes, in part,

“WHEREAS, it is estimated that, as of 2018, there were 11.4 million people present in the United States without lawful status, and current estimates are that 2.4 million people are employed in agriculture. The vast majority of this population have jobs, are hard workers, pay taxes, and are critical to the economic production of domestic business, and further it would be impractical to incarcerate or deport a class of people uniformly and without regard to circumstances; and
WHEREAS, it is incumbent upon the Congress and President of the United States to strengthen our national security and the security of the several states, including Idaho, by adopting targeted, common sense, business-focused, market-driven immigration reform, which at its core must include the following:

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….

(2) An effective guestworker program that meets the labor needs and demands of year-round agriculture, construction, hospitality, food processing, manufacturing, technology and other market sectors, and in particular allows cyclical worker visas of adequate length to meet the labor demands of Idaho agriculture and business; and
(3) An effective process by which persons currently present in the United States without lawful status and who are gainfully employed and their immediate family can obtain work authorization or residency status, without a pathway to United States citizenship, provided said persons have no criminal history beyond their immigration-related violations, and provided further that an appropriate fine is assessed and paid in satisfaction of their immigration-related violations….

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the members of the First Regular Session of the Sixty-seventh Idaho Legislature, the Senate and the House of Representatives concurring therein, that the Idaho Legislature requests and calls upon the President of the United States and the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States to take action with all deliberate speed to adopt and implement targeted immigration reform in a manner consistent with the principles set forth in this Joint Memorial.”

During the Senate floor debate, Senator Chuck Winder (R-District 20) said,

“They’re a huge part of our economy… Who do you see working?…. I don’t see too many of our people, and by ‘our people’ I mean Caucasian people, going out and dealing with the issue of manure, milking cows, trying to raise pigs, trying to work in the orchards, trying to work in the fields when it’s 110 degrees…. and yet we need to feed ourselves and we need food security…”

SJM 101 passed the Idaho Senate by a 25-10 vote.

The Idaho Freedom Caucus put out a press release yesterday calling SJM101 a “dangerous and reckless pay-to-stay amnesty scheme.”

In contrast, the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry tweeted their appreciation for the legislation saying,

When SJM 101 was introduced by Senator Guthrie, it was heard in the Senate State Affairs Committee. Senator Brian Lenney (R-District 13) had this to say about the route the legislation was sent in the House of Representatives by House Speaker Mike Moyle:

Senate Joint Memorial 101 is now slated to be heard in the House Agricultural Affairs Committee, possibly this week.

Feature photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons