Topic: Food Production, Risk, and Immigrant Labor: The Public Health Case for Immigration Reform and a Better Food System: Congress (the audience!) has asked a (National Academy of Sciences) panel of experts (YOU, the players are the experts), led by Study Directors Rose Martinez and Clyde Behney (the moderators), to advise them on immigration reform for a better food system. There will be no oppose/support sides in this deliberation. Rather, you are a panel of experts asked to present recommendations to Congress about the key issues in immigration reform as they relate to food systems. In particular, you will be asked to:
1.Provide some background on agricultural workers in the U.S., encompassing both farmworkers and meat/processing workers (who are they, where do they work, what type of work)
2.Provide an overview of the health risks associated with agricultural labor and the vulnerability of immigrant workers to health risks
3.Discuss the barriers to awareness and improvement
4.Describe the effects on security and resiliency of the U.S. food system
5.Present some policy recommendations from a public health standpoint (I expect what you will do here is make the recommendations from the reports below more digestible/understandable to the audience members and then perhaps rank them into what might be the most feasible/achievable or short-term vs. long-term.)
Audience: U.S. Senator John Cornyn, Chairman of Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration. The policy memo should be addressed to Senator Cornyn.
Source:
1.https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/501658-the-future-of-our-food-supply-relies-on-immigrant-farm-workers
2.https://civileats.com/2019/12/11/immigrants-lift-up-a-food-system-in-need-of-reform/
3.https://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/2019/10/31/california-united-farm-workers-union-undocumented-farmworkers/2502547001/
4.https://clf.jhsph.edu/about-us/news/news-2017/lack-protections-undocumented-workers-puts-public-health-food-system-risk
5.https://indianapublicmedia.org/eartheats/lack-protection-migrants-puts-food-system-risk.php
6:https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/04/study-undocumented-farm-workers-put-food-system-risk/100036382/
7.https://www.foodandwine.com/news/immigration-reform-may-be-key-saving-americas-farms
8.https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article248956154.html
9.https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/west/2020/11/09/300377.htm