Broken H-2A Program

Broken H-2A Program

It seems everyone, Democrats and Republicans alike, agree that the H-2A visa program isn’t working for farmers. The question is, what are they going to do about it? Earlier this week immigrant farm labor was the topic at a hearing before the House Judiciary subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security. During the hearing the Judiciary Committee chair stated that “the H-2A program is a bureaucratic and financial nightmare for farmers, which ultimately leaves them at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace”. He also went on to say that the farmers who do participate in the H-2A program do so as a last resort and because of their conscience; even though they realize the majority of available labor is illegal, they don’t want to break the law. His point being, he told the subcommittee, was that the large population of illegal farm workers should be enabled to participate legally in American agriculture. Every year the the agriculture industry faces an ever growing shortage of workers. Legislative reform of the current immigration policy is inevitable, because the current system does not work, hasn’t worked, and nothing short of a miracle will make it work.  

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