Biden pushes immigration reform plan, withdraws Trump H-2A reforms

President Joe Biden introduced ambitious immigration reform legislation on his first day in office that seeks to legalize millions of undocumented workers.

What Biden seeks will need to be approved by Congress, and that won’t be easy. Congress failed to pass similar reforms proposed by former President Barack Obama in 2013.

At the same time he proposed immigration reform, Biden withdrew the Trump administration’s just published final rule on reforms to the H-2A program. Those reforms, aiming to modernize and simplify H-2A regulations, were largely supported by grower advocates. 

“The final H-2A rule was withdrawn yesterday,” Michael Marsh, president and CEO of the National Council of Agricultural Employers, said Jan. 21. “We’ll have to wait and see what the Biden administration does with it.”

When party control of the White House flips, incoming administrations often suspend or withdraw new regulations until they have had a chance to review them.

In an earlier statement, Marsh said the NCAE is “committed to working with President Biden’s administration to strengthen our national security by enhancing America’s food security while promoting the welfare of our workers and the sustainability of our nation’s farmers and ranchers.”

On Jan. 21, Biden also issued an executive order promising “swift action” to reduce the risk that workers may contract COVID-19 in the workplace. 
“That will require issuing science-based guidance to help keep workers safe from COVID-19 exposure, including with respect to mask-wearing; partnering with state and local governments to better protect public employees; enforcing worker health and safety requirements; and pushing for additional resources to help employers protect employees,” Biden said in the executive order.

Reform now

According to a summary of Biden’s legislation, the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 will, in part: 

• Provide pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and increase labor protections;
• Allow individuals to apply for temporary legal status and the ability to apply for green cards after five years;
• Permit Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA or “Dreamers”), temporary protected status holders and immigrant farmworkers to apply for green cards immediately;
• Reform the family-based immigration system, clearing backlogs and eliminating long wait times;
• Protect workers from exploitation and improve employment verification process, including protections for migrant and seasonal workers; and
• Address the root causes of migration through increased funding and engagement to reduce endemic corruption, violence and poverty that causes people to flee their homes. 

The proposal was welcome news and the legislation is a “monumental step” to finally provide millions of Dreamers and other undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship, Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the administration to also address vital reforms needed to ensure legal protections for agricultural workers going forward,” Costa said in the statement.

The United Fresh Produce Association is pleased that Biden is moving first on immigration reform, said Tom Stenzel, president and CEO.

“We strongly support President Biden’s proposal to create a pathway to legal status for America’s immigrant population, including some 1 million farmworkers critical to feeding the nation,” Stenzel said in a statement. “We also call on the president and Congress to include a future agricultural guest worker program which will be required to secure an adequate workforce to harvest, pack and ship our products.”

Stenzel said the bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act passed by the House of Representatives in the last Congress “charts a clear path forward to a long-term, bipartisan solution to these challenges.”

President Biden’s decision to send Congress an immigration reform bill on his first day in office sends a “clear statement” about his commitment to address a pressing issue for farmers, Dave Puglia, president and CEO of Western Growers, said in a statement.

“We are encouraged by the president’s focus on modernizing the immigration system, and are confident we can work within his framework to fully address the agricultural labor crisis,” Puglia said in the statement. “As we did on a bipartisan basis in 2013 and 2019, we will collaborate with our Congressional champions to ensure that the two key needs of American farmers are met in any legislative package that arrives on the President’s desk — an earned pathway to legalization for our existing, experienced workers and a streamlined temporary nonimmigrant program that provides a reliable future flow of guest workers.”