Immigration
The debate over immigration and ag labor reform has been a political hot potato for decades now and has led to inaction by Congress, but leaders of the House and Senate Ag Committees say they are making it a priority for 2026.
The threat of raids on agricultural operations hit hard during the summer of 2025, and it will likely continue in 2026.
Labor costs continue to rise for California farmers, but skilled labor isn’t something growers are able to find with the current H-2A program. Labor experts, economists and farmers agree the current immigration system is “broken,” but a solution could be on the horizon.
In recent years, discussions around the slowing growth rate of the U.S. labor force have intensified, igniting concerns over potential economic impacts.
While there have been no major disruptions, there’s some concern over the potential for immigration enforcement efforts to impact labor.
This new department will be effective immediately and will provide strategic oversight and resource management for immigration-related work and will coordinate with other relevant federal agencies.
Farmworkers say colleagues choose not to return to fields out of fear saying, “If they show up to work, they don’t know if they will ever see their family again.”
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins says the administration plans to announce some updates soon to make the guestworker program more efficient and easier to use.
The on-again, off-again reports regarding ICE raids is sowing confusion for those who rely on immigrant labor and causing labor shortages because employees aren’t showing up for work.
It’s critical that ag employers take a closer look at documents employees supplied at time of hire to assess the potential risk of an ICE inspection.
It’s important to have a plan in place before it’s too late, said Vanessa Frank, an immigration attorney working in Ventura County, Calif.
After a week of ICE seemingly targeting dairy farms, California produce farms and a meat packing plant in Nebraska, President Donald Trump is reportedly ordering the Department of Homeland Security to exclude farms from immigration raids.
The organization said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents attempted to enter a local packing facility without a warrant, conducted operations in agriculture fields and initiated vehicle stops on roads used by agricultural workers.
Although vague, Trump’s comments during his Cabinet meeting are the most detailed the administration has provided on the fate of farmworkers without legal status — who make up half the farm sector’s workforce — under his plan for mass deportations.
Bladimir Moreno, owner of agricultural labor company LVH, led a multistate criminal enterprise and was sentenced to 118 months in prison, according to the Department of Justice.
The Affordable and Secure Food Act was not able to secure bipartisan support in the Senate’s lame duck session.
If passed in the final weeks of 2022, the Affordable and Secure Food Act would streamline the H2-A program, offer agricultural wage stabilization and provide a path to citizenship for farmworkers.
The USDA reports farmworker wage trends from the last year, highlighting statistics that will inform H-2A wage changes for 2023.
More than 60 ag groups telling the Biden Administration on Monday the nearly 7,000 South African farm workers should be exempted from restrictions related to the Omicron variant.
President Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador are meeting Tuesday as both face a surge in migration. They are expected to announce multiyear, joint projects to modernize border infrastructure.
President Biden traveled on Sunday to the U.S./Mexico border amid a surge in illegal border crossings. The administration announced a new program for up to 30,000 migrants a month to enter the U.S. legally.
“H.R. 2 does nothing to help U.S. agriculture and instead throws a longstanding foe in E-Verify in our faces,” California Fresh Fruit Association President Ian LeMay said in a statement.
The North American blueberry advocacy group is urging Congress to support specialty crop producers with current employment challenges by passing reintroduced workforce legislation.
The debate over immigration continues to be an issue in Washington. However, the Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor shows economists are still skeptical it’s enough for Congress to act on immigration reform.
MiChamba — the companion app to the H2 Organizer seasonal worker management platform — aims to create an experience for employers and H-2 visa workers to save time and maintain compliance.
The revised I-9 compliance form went into effect May 7, 2013.
Trump Again Demands a Wall as Lawmakers Chase Immigration Deal