Exhibit "B" Commission Special Meeting May 11, 2010
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For the record, my name is Pramila Jayapal and I am the Executive Director of

OneAmerica. OneAmerica is an immigrant and civil rights organization and we
work in coalition with numerous community, faith, labor, business and law
enforcement partners across the state and nationally. We currently coordinate
the work around federal comprehensive immigration reform in Washington state,
working closely with our elected leaders and partners here and in Washington DC.

I am very pleased that the Port of Seattle is considering a motion in support of
comprehensive immigration reform today and would urge all of the
Commissioners to support this motion, with one small amendme     at I hope

you will consider supporting. The reality is that our current broken immigration
system deeply affects many workers at the Port as well as many areas of trade
and commerce that the Port relies on in order to ensure a healthy and vibran
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Port of Seattle. '
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In April 2008, under Commissioner Creighton's leadership, the Port of Seattle
hosted a roundtable that brought together disparate business interests,
representing agriculture, banking, exports, horse racing, technology, and trade,
with some immigrant and community leaders. I was very pleased to serve on that
panel. Matthew Harris of the Potato Commission talked about the urgency of
passing immigration reform in order to make our economy move. Lydia Tamez of
Microsoft said that when US. policy toward immigration does not allow business
to hire workers in the US, those businesses are often forced to move work to
where the needed skilled workers are available. And Jon Wyss of Gebbers Farms
in NE Washington, one of the largest apple and cherry growers in the country,
stated that Washington's ports are the "refrigerators of the world"and that
without immigration reform, the ports will not be able to stay that way.

The reality is that we have an incredibly outdated federal immigration system that
has not updated its laws and visa categories and numbers to reflect the needs of
our economy or our families. We simply do not have enough workers in
particular industries, even in an economy such as this. For example, just last year,
an estimated five percent of crops were left on the ground and in previous years,
fruit lay rotting in the fields.  Increased  l9 audits and other workplace raids

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without any underlying changes to the broken system have just increased fear
and prevented key employers from wanting to speak out.

It is also important to recognize that the Port of Seattle is supported heavily by
immigrant workers. Airport entry level jobs are filled by a substantial immigrant
workforcefrom retail, ground service, and food service to security and cleaning.
Most of the 1,800 short-haul drivers in Seattle responsible for moving cargo are
immigrants. Taxi cab drivers, rental car shuttlers and numerous other jobs on
Port property are filled by immigrant workers who are deeply affected by the
broken immigration system and wanting to see the Port speak out on the issue.
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I do have     small amendment5that I would like to respectfully ask you to
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consider.      "ato add the phrase "through an earned legalization program" to
principle a to make it clear that you are asking that there be a tough but fair
process whereby the undocumented population could remain in the country
through earned legalization. l hope you will consider thchanges
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Finally, let me say that I believe all elected leaders at any level are accountable to
the communities around them to stand up against abuses of human rights and
civil rights. The issue of immigration reform is not just an issue of immigration; it
is an issue of what kind of a country will we be and what are we all willing to

stand up for? In the wake of the Arizona law that has drawn widespread protest
and statements by diverse groups from the NBA to the MLB Players Association to
the largest black fraternity in the country, it is an important time for the Port of
Seattle to strongly state their support for moving forward comprehensive
immigration reform this year. I appreciate your efforts and thank you for the
opportunity to provide comments today.