H-2A
Labor Department would go digital with H-2A paperwork
Shorthanded, U.S. agriculture hopes for a role in immigration debate
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.
Powerhouse Democrats propose ‘blue card’ for undocumented farmworkers
Democratic lawmakers from the House and Senate unveiled bills on Thursday that would give undocumented farmworkers “blue card” status, allowing them to work legally in the United States and gain the chance to become permanent residents, with an eventual path to citizenship. (No paywall)
Prospects dimming for House vote on ag guestworker bill
House Republican leaders promised a vote this month on creating a new agricultural guestworker program. But it now appears that vote may be delayed, in part due to inter-party squabbling over more comprehensive immigration reform.
Modernized farmworker visa on the way, says administration
With immigration legislation stalled in Congress, four members of President Trump’s cabinet said on Thursday that they will modernize the H-2A guestworker program for agricultural labor.
California’s farm guestworker program continues to grow
Growers and contractors in California recruited 14,252 foreign guestworkers last year, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Labor. The figure was up 28 percent from the previous year.
Rural task force report highlights Internet, GMOs, and a better H-2A visa
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue released a task force report, commissioned by President Trump on the day that Perdue took office, that makes 100 recommendations to improve rural prosperity, including universal access to high-speed internet, a smoother-functioning H-2A guestworker program and a federal initiative "to increase acceptance of biotech products and open and maintain markets for U.S. farmers abroad."
GOP sponsor of year-round guestworker bill to leave House in 2018
In announcing his retirement at the end of 2018, House Judiciary chairman Bob Goodlatte said his goals in his final year in office include "bolstering enforcement of our immigration laws and reforming the legal immigration system." Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican, is the sponsor of divisive legislation to create a year-round H-2C agricultural guestworker program to replace seasonal H-2A visas.
Party-line divisions as House Judiciary works on new guestworker program
House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte tweaked his bill for a new year-round H-2C guestworker visa program but Democrats on the committee said the changes worsened a bill that greatly expands the range of jobs the foreign workers could fill. During a rancorous bill-drafting session, the Republican majority defeated on party-line votes Democratic amendments for higher pay for H-2C workers and to bar them from forestry jobs.
House Judiciary chairman proposes year-round agricultural guest-worker program
The U.S. would scrap its much-criticized H-2A system of short-term visas for agricultural workers and replace it with an H-2C program that allows foreign laborers to stay in the country for up to three years under a bill filed by House Judiciary chairman Bob Goodlatte. The bill also would allow those laborers, for the first time, to work in dairies and processing plants. The committee is scheduled to vote on the bill on Wednesday, at a moment when lawmakers want to resolve the issue of "dreamers," youths brought illegally into the U.S. by their parents.
With community opposition, foreign workers struggle to find housing
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.
Trump’s plan: All illegal immigrants will be subject to deportation
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called for hard-nosed enforcement of immigration laws, saying that if becomes president, anyone in the United States illegally would be subject to deportation and the sole path to citizenship would be "to return home and apply for re-entry." Only those likely to flourish would be welcome. Trump's 10-step plan was strikingly similar to a position paper released months ago by his campaign and a rebuttal to any speculation that his stance on immigration has softened.
Visa paperwork snarls delay of seasonal farmworkers, threatening harvests
Farmers reported labor shortages in more than 20 states, threatening harvests, due to delays in federal approval for seasonal workers from foreign countries, said the largest U.S. farm group.
America’s foreign-born sheepherders are finally getting a raise
More than 1,600 foreign-born sheepherders in the western U.S. are finally getting a pay raise, says High Country News. Brought to the U.S. under the H-2A visa program, the workers are allowed in the country for three years at a time.