guestworkers

U.S. agriculture has turned increasingly to short-term guestworkers to relieve a labor shortage in recent years. Farm groups and farm-state lawmakers want to expand the program. The Republican platform does not mention agricultural workers while pledging strong immigration laws. Project 2025, which describes itself as a blueprint for a new Trump administration, says the H-2A agricultural visa should be phased out over the next 10 to 20 years.

Congress must reform the guestworker program to ensure there are enough workers on the farm to produce America's food, said the president of the largest U.S. farm group on Sunday. (No paywall)

With American farmers increasingly relying on foreign agricultural laborers, the Labor Department approved 317,619 seasonal guestworkers during the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, up 15 percent from a year earlier, a farmworker advocacy group said on Tuesday. No paywall