Guest farmworkers recruited to the U.S. under the H-2A visa program are guaranteed a free place to stay, with the costs covered by their employer. But many towns in California don’t want to see non-native workers living in their midst, fearful that the newcomers will bring crime and traffic and lower property rates, says Los Angeles Times.
When housing was being built for farmworkers in San Luis Obispo County, for instance, “meetings were held, fingers were pointed and death threats were hurled” at the farm owners who financed the construction, says the Times. Eventually, part of the new development was burned to the ground last year before it could be finished.
“Increasingly fond of locally grown produce, Californians are far less enthusiastic about locally housed farmworkers. They have deployed lawsuits, hastily written regulations — and, apparently, the torch — to segregate thousands of seasonal workers to seedy roadside hotels and crowded housing in cities where affordable shelter is already limited,” says the Times.
Meanwhile, as immigration tightens, farmers are forced to turn to the H-2A program to draft new workers and the problem of housing seems like it will only become more urgent.