Ag Labor Bill Passes the House, Waits at the Senate… Again BY DANTE L GALEAZZI, Texas International Produce Association
T
he Farm Workforce Modernization Act was originally introduced in 2019 and was reintroduced to the U.S. Congress earlier this year. The bill passed the House in March 2021, and is currently with the Senate. So, what does this bill do for agriculture and why does it matter?
Having a reliable, legal workforce in sufficient numbers has long been a challenge for U.S. agriculture. Over the last five to seven years, South Texas has become the latest in agriculture to habitually encounter difficulties with finding enough workers. And Texas is not alone in the shortage – just look at the number of visas issued annual under the H-2A program. In 2014, the H-2A program issued less than 100,000 visas to foreign workers for seasonal agricultural jobs in the United States. In 2019, the U.S. Dept. of Labor certified nearly 260,000 jobs for H-2A visas with nearly 20,000 of those visas coming to Texas employers. Even as usage of the program grows our personnel shortages persist, not to mention we still must address how to effectively move undocumented noncitizens into a legal workforce status without punishing either the employee or employer. Thus, the need for a bill such as the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.
Is the bill perfect? Not even close. Does it help U.S. agriculture? Absolutely. What does the bill do? Let’s break it down:
Certified Agricultural Workers (CAWs) Although the statistic varies from year-to-year and report to report, most place the number of undocumented noncitizens in agriculture between 1 to 1.5 million. The bill creates a program that moves these workers into a legal visa status, titling them and their nuclear families (spouse and minor-age children) as Certified Agricultural Workers.
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To be eligible, the candidate must show proof of work in agriculture of at least 180 days in the last 2 years. Once qualified, the candidate can receive a CAW visa good for 5 years that permits them to work in agriculture, and are eligible to renew that visa for another 5 years if they work in agriculture for at least 100 days each of the 5 years prior to the renewal. The 5 year extension can be renewed indefinitely, providing noncitizens the opportunity to remain in agriculture while permitting them to move back and forth between their home country and the U.S. without issue. Depending on their tenure working in agriculture, between 4 to 8 years after entry into the CAW program (and while remaining in good standing in the program as mentioned above), the candidates could become eligible to pay a fine and begin the application process to seek Legal Permanent Residency, which is the same pathway all other noncitizens that wish to legally immigrate would pursue.
H-2A Program Improvements H-2A is the visa system used to legally bring Guest Workers (aka Seasonal workers, Foreign Workers, Noncitizen workers, etc.) to the U.S. for a predetermined amount of time to work in agriculture. Between the lengthy and complicated application
