House legislation to tighten borders proposes new expanded ag guest-worker program

An overhaul of agricultural guest-worker programs is a major component of a House plan to fix the immigration status of young people involved in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) that is entangled in the latest immigration battle on Capitol Hill. Conservatives in the House introduced a broad immigration bill on Wednesday that included much of the language proposed last fall by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., in his agricultural guest-worker bill.Goodlatte and three other Republican congressmen introduced the "Securing America's Future Act" on Wednesday. The bill had several provisions ending green card lottery programs and claimed to reduce overall immigration levels by 25% a year, but at the same time would increase visas for skilled workers and for agricultural workers.The bill also authorizes a southern border wall, would boost security at ports and would expand border patrol agents. In employment, it would require all employers to use the federal E-Verify system to run Social Security information on prospective employees.