Oklahoma farmers push for immigration reform

PORTER, Okla. - Farmers in Oklahoma are joining a national effort for immigration reform.

The farmers depend on immigrant workers to operate their businesses.

They say if Congress fails to reform the nation's immigration laws, their businesses will suffer.

Kent Livesay, a peach farmer from Porter, is one of the Oklahoma farmers calling for immigration reform.

The peach orchard he operates has been in his family for nearly 50 years and is the largest in the state.

Livesay said his family's business would not be as successful as it is today if not for the same families of documented workers he has depended on since 1985.

But he says those workers are getting older and without immigration reform, he's worried his business will not be able to grow in the future.

"As we think about expanding in the future or continuing to keep production where we're at, we do need some reform of the immigration laws," said Livesay."Ideally, we'd have a guest worker program that would allow people to come here and work for short periods of time in the U.S. legally."

Livesay said he has also employed Americans, but says he still depends on documented workers in order to sustain and grow his business.

As Congress continues to discuss and debate immigration reform, Livesay hopes all that talk will turn into action, sooner rather than later, for the sake of his business.

Read the rest here:

Oklahoma farmers push for immigration reform

Related Posts

Comments are closed.