While the Trump government affects illegal immigration, the California Farm groups work behind the scenes to influence the legislative measures that would ensure stable care for the state's farms and ranch of the state, an industry that has long depends on an workforce born abroad.
In combination with their new tariff-induced trade wars, the vow of the government of mass raids that aim to immigrants have farmers and working groups behind the need for legislation, which ensures that the United States continues to produce sufficient food and have sufficient workers to tend to.
But under this common goal, a crack has opened up a unique question: Which workforce should be prioritized? Should agricultural interests urge them to protect and keep workers without papers who have worked for years in the areas of the country and have families and parish roots in many cases? Or should you concentrate on consolidating the program for foreign guest workers who temporarily offers a legal channel for the imported seasonal worker, but does not offer a way for legal stay and has proven to be susceptible to exploitation?
The problem is of crucial importance in California, which is growing More than a third of the country of the country and more than three quarters of the nation's fruits and nuts. Although a growing number of 162,000 agricultural workers in the state is temporarily stopped by the cumbersome H-2A visa program at least half are undocumented immigrants and many have been in the country for more than a decade, according to A January 2022 report Prepared for the US Ministry of Labor.
It has been almost 40 years since the federal legislature was adopted a comprehensive law on the reform of immigration. The Law on immigration reform and control of 1986 Strengthened border security and introduced civilian and criminal punishments for employers who knowingly hired workers without papers. But it also paved the way for almost 3 million immigrants in the country without permission to obtain legal status.
Many important dinner of the farmine consider it another reset. However, immigration remains one of the most accused topics in the country's capital, and every agricultural work law would have to receive support in a congress and white house controlled by Republicans.
The California Farm Bureau, which is committed to farmers and cattle breeders and has been calling for reforms for years that strengthen the right -wing pipeline for the import of a temporary seasonal workforce and also offer a way to the legal residence for and are already in the United States.
They support them Farm Workforce Modernization ActA cross -party bill that the house said goodbye twice before he breastfeeded in the Senate. The measure, which was written by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, and Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Republican from the state of Washington, included a path to legal residence for agricultural workers who have worked in the USA for a long time and have passed the criminal background exams. It would have changed the Agricultural Guest Worker Visa program to optimize the setting process, to improve the availability of decent employee housing accommodation and to set up a mandatory e-verify system, through which agricultural employers would electronically check the authorization of its employees.
Although the right Expose H-2A employees to the lawsuits of workers. There were also concerns that an obligatory e-verify determination would have a significant impact on farmers.
In view of the intention of the Trump administration to increase the existing immigration system, the managers of agricultural farmers based in California stated that the timing may be correct in order to obtain a comprehensive immigration measure. The Bill's main authors say that they expect to reintroduce a version of the invoice soon.
“Sometimes it is this kind of widespread concerns that open the door for the opportunity to fix the problems that have really not been treated for decades,” said Ryan Jacobsen, Managing Director of Fresno County Farm Bureau.
In the meantime, the National Council of Agricultural Employers, who is committed to farmers and cattle breeders who are involved in the labor-intensive agricultural production, and represents around 95% of employers who use the H-2A program, according to President and CEO Michael Marsh, who designs the visa program more efficiently. It offers no way to the legal status, but Marsh said that such a component could possibly be added in the upcoming negotiations.
The legislation suggests expanding the types of workers that are covered as part of the visa program and enable annual employment of H-2A workers, as can be seen from a summary shared with the Times. It would eliminate a controversy Minimum wage structure For guest workers who were determined as part of the current program, provided that the government's office is responsible for the fact that the employment of H2-A workers undermines the domestic workforce. It would deliver over 1 billion US dollars for the construction and repair of land workers' apartments.
It is a “market bill,” said Marsh, which means that it contains political ideas that could be summarized in larger laws.
The challenge, according to Marsh, is to create a legislative template that fulfills the needs of employers to encourage the employees who are already illegally from the shadow in the country and receive enough republican votes to issue the congress.
“How can we initiate the needle so that we can make sure that we keep the existing workforce in any kind of status, who is not offensive for the people who believe that it is only amnesty, but at the same time allow farmers and cattle breeders in the United States to maintain a workforce and still produce food here?” Said Marsh.
An H-2A focusing calculation could be a tasty solution in states that are less dependent on employees without papers and are already more dependent on the visa program. But in California, rumbling of such an invoice have aroused the opposition.
Under H-2A, agricultural employers can hire employees from other countries to temporary permits as long as they show a insufficient number of available US employees. The employer is obliged to provide imported employees food, housing construction and secure working conditions.
Although the golden state had below the highest number Of certified H-2A workers in 2022, many California producers say that the cost of providing living space and a necessary wage of almost $ 20 per hour makes the program economically impossible.
The proponents of agricultural workers have also requested changes and said that the program was ripe for the exploitation – because the permission of an employee of being in the country is tied to – and should be strengthened by additional protective measures.
Manuel Cunha Jr., President of the Nisei Farmers League based in Fresno, said that he would “strongly” lean against an H-2A focusing law if it was not also a way to the legal residence residence for long-term agricultural workers, including those who were classified as essential in the middle of the pandemic.
“If you would say that you take a guest work into account before you take care of the people who are here … I will fight it until the bitter end,” he said. “I will join the advocacy groups. I will even join the UFW. “
Agriculture and working groups say that they are still formulating their strategies in order to advance significant changes in legislative.
The Times was unable to reach several congress members, represented the municipalities in the California Agricultural Coreland. Spokesman for Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) and Doug Lamalfa (R-Richvale) did not respond to inquiries about comments. A spokesman for Rep. Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield) said he was not available for an interview due to his schedule.
MP Adam Gray, a Democrat from Merced, said he supported the law on the modernization of the Farm Workforce and would like to see a way to citizenship for agricultural workers. At the same time, he was open to a legislative template that the H-2A-Visa program reformed.
“We have to make progress on this topic,” he said. “I think many of these strict positions that you see in Washington do not reflect when they go out in the real communities. I think you will find many more Americans on both sides of the aisle who say: “Look, do something”. “
This article is part of the time. Stock reporting initiativePresent Financed by the James Irvine FoundationExplanation of the challenges for employees with low income and the efforts to cope with California economic gap.