For the second time this summer, House Republican leaders backed creation of a new agricultural guest worker program, this time a three-year H-2C visa available for fish farms, dairy producers and meatpackers as well as crop farmers. Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington state applauded Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy “for their commitment to bring this to the floor” but the bill was not on the agenda for House action before the August recess.
Republicans hold a 43-seat majority over Democrats in the House but splintered over two immigration control bills in late June, defeating both. One of them contained the punitive Ag Jobs package sponsored by Judiciary chairman Bob Goodlatte. Many of the provisions of that proposal for a H-2C visa, to replace the current, seasonal H-2A visa, appear in the new bill. One farm lobbyist was skeptical if the farm worker bill could attract enough votes to pass the House, given the disagreements within the GOP.
Named the Ag and Legal Workforce Act, the new bill allows 450,000 H-2C visas a year, with 40,000 reserved for meat processors. Excluded from the cap are workers who already hold H-2A visas and undocumented farm workers who register with the H-2C program to gain legal status. Undocumented workers could be pre-certified for a H-2C visa and could return to work legally after briefly leaving the country. Workers with a H-2C visa would have to leave the United States to collect 10 percent of their wages in their home countries. The bill also phases in, over two years, a requirement for employers to use the E-Verify database.
Sponsors of the new H-2C bill include Goodlatte, House Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway, House Intelligence chairman Devin Nunes, the House Freedom Caucus chairman and two Democrats, Henry Cuellar of Texas and Collin Peterson of Minnesota, the senior Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee.
“When not enough Americans can be found to fill jobs, the bill ensures that American farmers have access to a reliable workforce to fill positions needed to keep their farms afloat,” said Goodlatte.
By some estimates, more than half of U.S. farm workers are undocumented. Farm groups have pressed for legislation to assure a legal and reliable agricultural workforce.
A four-page summary of the guest worker bill is available here.