Senators near deal on farm worker immigration

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate leaders looking to overhaul the U.S. immigration system are close to an agreement on how to best reform rules for farm workers, U.S. lawmakers said on Thursday.

As part of an agreement among leading senators for a comprehensive overhaul of U.S. immigration laws, a bipartisan group is working to "have a consistent labor force for agriculture, the one industry in America that almost fully depends on an undocumented work force," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat.

Feinstein and several other senior senators, flanked by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, told reporters that the "Ag Jobs" bill, which has been in the works for several years, was now in a larger immigration legislative package expected to be on the Senate floor next week.

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to take up its own version of immigration reform later this year.

Differences between lawmakers remain on the farm-related legislation but the bill in its final form is expected to lay out rules for seasonal workers and give some a clearer path for earning legalized status.

Republican Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida said the differences would likely be resolved in a matter of hours.

Immigration reform is a pivotal issue for the U.S. farm sector, in part because the estimated 1.1 million undocumented workers make up about 70 percent of its force.

"Frankly, we need them," said Craig Regelbrugge, a co-chair of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform, which includes farm and other groups.