Washington—Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today released the following statement on the bipartisan Senate working group’s framework for comprehensive immigration reform:

“The comprehensive framework outlined today by the bipartisan Senate working group is a major step forward in the effort to reform our broken immigration system. It is my belief that these reforms must be sensible and fair, meet the needs of families and workers, provide effective enforcement and security at the borders, and offer a pathway to earned citizenship that requires undocumented immigrants pay taxes and fines, pass background checks and learn English.

“These reforms must also address the issue of undocumented labor currently in American agriculture, as well as reform the broken H-2A visa program to ensure farmers have legal means to hire workers for planting and harvesting when local agriculture workers cannot be found.

“A pathway to citizenship is a critical component of any immigration reform proposal. As a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, I am encouraged by today’s progress and look forward to working closely with my colleagues on this issue in the weeks ahead.”

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