Somos Independents is a voter group led by Mexican American women. Shirl Mora James is a Civil Rights and Immigration Lawyer of Nebraska and is also a co-founder of our organization.
Everyone knows the immigration system is broken, and our group supports legal immigration reform. We also know that agricultural farmers of Nebraska depend and rely upon immigrant labor. In fact, according to Growing Nebraska:
The American Farm Bureau Federation is urging Congress to pass immigration reform this year.
"Immigration reform is critical for the agricultural industry," said AFBF President Bob Stallman. "Many farmers rely on an immigrant labor force and without reform, growers will begin to plant less labor intensive crops or go off shore.
"Simply put, either we import our labor or we import our food," said Stallman.
Agriculture is Nebraska's chief economic driver, yet, according to the New York Times, current Governor Heineman made anti-immigration his focus in his last election. Bottom line: Restrictionism and isolationism does not grow our economy. In fact, Heineman's approach is hurting Nebraska farmers and the agricultural industry.
We know that without immigrant labor, our Nation would be bankrupt. We understand the economic facts which is why we are asking Nebraska farmers to vote their pocket book on November 4, 2014, and we encourage them along with other business leaders to support Chuck.
