Ag Labor Fix Tied to DACA Bill in Congress

A complete overhaul of the American agricultural guest worker program is a major part of a House of Representatives’ plan to fix DACA.  DACA is currently tied up in an immigration reform battle on Capitol Hill.

Virginia Republican Bob Goodlatte, as well as three other Republicans, recently introduced the “Securing America’s Future Act.”  The bill has several provisions in it, including an end to the green card program and it claims to reduce overall immigration by 25% a year.  At the same time, the bill increases visas for skilled workers, as well as agricultural workers too.  The bill would also scrap the current H2A program and replace it with a new one that’s called H2C.  It would allow American farmers to bring in 410,000 foreign workers for farm jobs, as well as 40,000 workers for meatpacking jobs.  The number of visas will increase each year, which means farmers would be able to bring in 1.3 million foreign workers in farming and related industries.

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