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The Trump admin is quietly increasing the number of temporary visas for immigrant farm workers, The New York Times reports.
According to the Times, “the administration has quietly acknowledged in recent months that its immigration raids and crackdown on the border have aggravated the issue. So it has instead turned to an alternative source, making it cheaper for farmers to hire immigrant farmworkers on temporary visas.
“Many farmers have celebrated those changes, made to an increasingly popular visa program known as H-2A, noting the difficulty in hiring American workers and tough economic conditions for the industry. But immigration hawks and labor unions alike are opposed, arguing the move will only increase the share of foreign workers and hurt native workers and suppress their wages.
“The simmering debate underscores how some of the administration’s top goals of reducing immigration, keeping food prices low and helping American workers may inevitably conflict. The competing interests at play also show the spillover effects of Mr. Trump’s hard-line approach to legal and illegal immigration.”
Only a tiny proportion of farmers in states like California are reporting permanent losses of workers due to immigration raids, but a significant proportion—around a fifth—are saying raids and “general anxiety surrounding enhanced immigration enforcement” are creating shortages.
Under new changes to the H-2A visa, wages for immigrant workers are lowered by between $1 and $7 an hour depending on the state and farmers can include housing as part of the compensation on offer.
The changes have already prompted a lawsuit from United Farmworkers of America, who say the new rules will further displace American farmworkers.
“These actions are going to displace domestic farmworkers who have been working in the fields and putting food on dinner tables for decades, and bring a work force that is even more vulnerable to abuse,” Teresa Romero, the president of the union, said in an interview.
In an opinion essay in November, Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, said the changes are likely to encourage more foreign migration and discourage automation in agriculture.
Nearly 400,000 H-2A visas were issued in the 2025 fiscal year, up from 50,000 in 2005.
Around a third of crop workers are American citizens. Fifteen percent are temporary workers, and 40% are illegals.
