President Trump proposed a “points-based” system on Thursday that would put younger, highly trained, and well-paid workers at the front of the line for legal immigration to the United States. The plan was silent on agricultural labor, but farm groups hope to be part of “a broader dialogue” on immigration.
“We continue to emphasize that much of agriculture is facing nothing short of a full-blown labor crisis today,” said Chuck Conner, chief executive of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives and a prominent voice on farm labor. “We continue to seek a sustainable solution that preserves agriculture’s experienced workforce and provides for agriculture’s future needs with a flexible, market-based agricultural worker visa program that provides access to a legal and reliable workforce in the future.”
Half of U.S. farmworkers — a million people or more, by some estimates — are believed to be undocumented. The Agriculture Workforce Coalition says that workers already in the country should have the opportunity to gain legal status and that the guestworker program should ensure an adequate flow of labor in the future, including year-round work on livestock farms. The H-2A visa now in use is limited to seasonal workers. Farmers say the visa system is unduly cumbersome to use and does not always provide workers when they are needed, such as at harvest time.
California growers said in a survey this year that they repeatedly have trouble hiring enough workers, despite paying higher wages or seeking H-2A visas, so they have had to reduce some hand work, such as pruning; try mechanization; or switch to crops that require less labor. “The missing element is an improved agricultural immigration system, to match willing employees with farm employers,” said president Jamie Johansson of the California Farm Bureau Federation.
Conner said he raised agriculture’s concerns during a White House briefing in advance of the president’s speech. “We expressed our desire to work with them to ensure that the labor needs of America’s farmers are being discussed as part of a broader dialogue.”
Legislation to create “blue card”— legal — status for undocumented farmworkers is pending in the Senate and House. Proposed early this year by a pair of California Democrats, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the bills would also put the farmworkers on a path to U.S. residency, or green card status, in three to five years if they satisfy certain requirements, such as passing a law enforcement check.
Lofgren, who chairs the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, held a hearing on “securing the future of American agriculture” last month. A spokesman was not immediately available to discuss Lofgren’s plans for the blue card bill, HR 641. Feinstein is the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has taken no action on her bill, S 175.
Farmworker Justice is among the groups that support the blue card bills. Adrienne DerVartanian, its director of immigration and labor rights, said the legislation would stabilize the farm labor force. Speaking of Trump’s proposal, DerVartanian said, “I see it as dead on arrival.”
Congress has disagreed for years over comprehensive immigration reform as well as such smaller-scope issues as ag labor or the undocumented “Dreamers” brought to the United States as children. Trump described his proposal as a “merit system and a heart system” for immigration because it would allow high-skill workers to bring their immediate families with them. He coupled the “points-based selection system” with intensified border security measures.
The president said he was pursuing historic reforms, but he also used his proposal as a reelection cudgel. “And if for some reason — possibly political — we can’t get the Democrats to approve this merit-based, high-security plan, then we will get it approved immediately after the election, when we take back the House, keep the Senate, and, of course, hold the presidency,” he said. His audience in the White House Rose Garden stood in applause.
To watch a video of the president’s speech or to read his remarks, click here.