On a strong 260-165 vote, the House passed a bipartisan bill on Wednesday to give legal status to undocumented farmworkers and modernize the H-2A guestworker program. Lead sponsor Rep. Zoe Lofgren said that although action in the Republican-controlled Senate, which has sat on legislation from the Democratic-run House, is not certain, “there is an interest” in assuring a reliable farm workforce.
Half of farmworkers — perhaps 1.25 million people — are believed to be undocumented. Farmers say that it is increasingly difficult to find workers domestically and that the H-2A visa program is unduly onerous to use and often does not approve workers in time for harvest or other periods of peak labor needs. Use of the H-2A program has soared in the past decade.
Passage of the ag labor bill was a rare moment of unity for the often-polarized House. Some 34 Republicans joined all but three Democrats in voting for the bill, developed during negotiations among lawmakers, farmers, and workers that began in March. “It is bipartisan, and it is important for us to pass it,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi during House debate on the bill, HR 5038.
“We have come up with a plan that will work,” said Lofgren, a California Democrat. Said cosponsor Dan Newhouse, a Washington State Republican, “This bill provides certainty for farmers and farmworkers.”
Opponents, such as Republicans Ken Buck of Colorado and Ted Yoho of Florida, derided the bill as a disguised path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and said it would not keep workers on the farm. “This bill allows people to get amnesty. They will leave agriculture,” predicted Yoho. Buck said, “We don’t have the slightest idea the number of people” the “fundamentally flawed bill” would allow to stay in the United States and eventually have the opportunity to progress to citizenship.
Under the Lofgren-Newhouse bill, undocumented farmworkers who pass background checks and who have worked for at least two years in agriculture would gain temporary legal status as Certified Agricultural Workers, which would be renewable if they continue to work at least 100 days a year on the farm. Workers could eventually qualify for a green card, allowing permanent residence in the United States. They would have to pay a $1,000 fine and work an additional four to eight years in agriculture, depending on whether they had already been in the country for 10 years.
The bill would streamline the H-2A visa program by allowing employers to file one application for all the workers they will need at various points in the year and by giving guestworkers visas that are good for three years. Some H-2A visa holders could work at dairies and other year-round employers. At present, H-2A visas are available only for seasonal work. The bill also would limit wage increases to 3.25 percent a year and provide more USDA funding for farmworker housing.
After the legalization and H-2A reforms have been implemented, the government would phase in mandatory use of E-Verify, a federal database of people authorized to work in the United States.
“We have been in discussions with various senators. There is an interest and recognition” of the farm labor issue, said Lofgren. “I think we’ll have a little confab after the first of the year and do additional strategy. Nothing is ever certain with the Senate.”
Arizona Republican Andy Biggs said the option for farmworkers to obtain a green card is “an unacceptable slap in the face of all those who follow immigration laws” to arrive legally.
“The way things work, [it will] take 18 to 20 years” for an undocumented worker to gain citizenship, said Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a California Republican. “It’s a steep hill.”
In addition to the time workers would have to spend in agricultural labor before they could apply for a green card, people must be permanent residents for five years to apply for naturalization.
Recent attempts at farm labor reform, including a Republican proposal last year, died after becoming entangled in broader immigration legislation. Congress has not passed an ag labor reform bill in three decades.
“This is the only step we can take on a bipartisan basis this year. Let’s get it done,” said Michigan Republican Fred Upton.
For a two-page summary of the bill, click here.