- Labor
Bill Would Reform H-2A Guest Worker Program
By
Kimberly Warren
Staff Writer
Another attempt
at reforming the H-2A guest worker program has been introduced.
Senator Larry Craig, R-Idaho, introduced an updated version of Agricultural
Jobs, Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act (AgJOBS) on Sept. 23.
AgJOBS has support from both Republican and Democrat senators, and
more than a dozen have joined him in sponsoring the bill.
This bill would provide a two-step approach to a stable, legal,
safe ag work force, according to a press release from Craig’s
office.
“It would streamline and expand the H-2A guest worker program
– the long-term solution,” Craig wrote in the release.
“It would provide a one-time adjustment to legal status for
farm workers already working here – providing the near-term
bridge that would allow American agriculture to adjust to a changing
economy.”
Craig went on to write that AgJOBS would not create an amnesty program.
“Eligible workers already in the United States could continue
to work in agriculture, but could now do so legally,” Craig
wrote. “They will be given the chance to earn adjustment to
legal status by demonstrating reliability and a strong work ethic.
Adjusting workers may also work in another industry, as long as
the agriculture work requirement is satisfied.”
In other information from Craig’s office, Craig wrote that
AgJOBS would not create new immigration: “Adjustment would
be limited to incumbent farm workers with a significant work history
in U.S. agriculture. The adjusting worker would have non-immigrant,
but legal, status.”
In introducing this bill, Craig is hoping to reform the only other
current guest worker program: H-2A, which he called “profoundly
broken.”
“The H-2A process is slow, bureaucratic and inflexible,”
Craig wrote. “The current process is so expensive and hard
to use, it will place only about two to three percent of the total
ag work force. A General Accounting Office study found the Department
of Labor misses statutory deadlines for processing H-2A employer
applications more than 40 percent of the time.”
Craig’s bill would work to eliminate illegal workers –
including the trafficking of people across the border and the dangers
associated with it.
“Workers smuggled into the United States illegally cannot
claim the most basic legal rights and protections,” Craig
wrote. “They are vulnerable to predation and exploitation.”
Craig went on to explain that AgJOBS would meet the increasing needs
for growers, as well.
“Our farmers face serious challenges regarding their workforce,”
he wrote. “Of the United States’ 1.6 million agricultural
workers, more than half are not legally authorized to work here.
With recent, stepped-up documentation enforcement, farm workers
are being scattered and the work force is being constantly and increasingly
disrupted. Ag employers want a legal work force and must have a
stable work force to survive.”
As a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security
and the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and
Citizenship, Craig wrote the bill so it would benefit national security.
“Consumers need a safe, stable, domestic food supply. Our
nation needs secure borders, a safe homeland and a government that
works,” Craig wrote. “Yet Americans are being threatened
on all these fronts because of a growing shortage of legal workers
in agriculture…when thousands of farm workers are brought
out of this ‘underground economy,’ register with this
government program and verify compliance with the law, border and
homeland security would benefit.
“AgJOBS is a win-win-win approach. Workers would be better
off than under the status quo…Growers and workers would get
a stable, legal work force. Consumers would get better assurance
of a safe, stable, American-grown, food supply – no an increased
dependence on imported food.”
To follow AgJOBS, visit Craig’s Web site at http://craig.senate.gov
