Several Rio Grande Valley mayors met to discuss the local workforce, immigration-related fears and the impact on the area.

Mayors from Alamo, McAllen and Edinburg, along with local businesses, held a roundtable on Friday. They want state and Washington lawmakers to pass legislation to protect the workforce.

Currently, 65 percent of farmworkers in the Valley are immigrants, according to the American Immigration Alliance.

They say 59 percent of immigrants in the Valley also make up the construction workforce.

"This is not Republican, this is not Democrat, this is real time solutions to help our economy to keep our economy moving forward," Alamo Mayor J.R. Garza said.

Texas International Produce Association President Dante Galeazzi says he's seen an impact in his industry.

"Our folks have often been the ones that come for a season and go home. They get caught up in a lot of these enforcements that not necessarily targeted at them," Galeazzi said.

Immigration agricultural workers can currently work in the states through the H24 program. It's a program that allows immigrant workers to do seasonal work under certain regulations.

"It's an expensive program. It's not accessible for our small and medium farmers, there's a ton of problems, the government doesn't run it incredibly well, but it's the only program we have, so we're forced into this pigeonhole," Galeazzi said.

Galeazzi says the solution to the labor shortage he and other businesses are facing is to pass new legislation, like the Farm Workforce Modernization Act or President Donald Trump's legal work permit proposal.

To learn more about the H24 program, click here.

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