Proposed Immigration Legislation Concerning To Idaho Ag Community

While they may not chalk it up a success, there are many in the Idaho farming community that were happy a pair of House Bills failed during the 2026 legislative session. Dexton Lake with the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation said House Bills 700 and 704 were very targeted approaches from the Idaho legislature to crack down on hiring of undocumented individuals.

“Now, from the Farm Bureau's perspective, yes, we want and desperately want a secure border and for a legal workforce," Lake said. "However, that legal workforce needs to desire to work in the ag industry, and that's just something that does not currently exist. I mean we could pay $50, $60, $70 an hour and people are disenfranchised by the ag industry because it's hard work, and it's outside work whether you're in the hot or in the cold.”

This Is A Federal Issue

In addition, making the labor situation more challenging, Lake noted, is the fact that the current H-2A program does not address all of the needs currently in the farming community, such as dairy and livestock. Plus, Lake added implementing any kind of E-Verify program is not a state issue and should be left up to the federal government.

“And the Trump administration has done, you know, love them or hate them, they've done a tremendous job of closing the border," Lake said. "And so there has been a huge dip in illegal immigration, but we cannot live in a world where we don't understand that there are people, undocumented folks, who do provide us our food and fiber. And we don't want it to be that way, but people have got to eat, people have got to wear clothes, and that's just the world we live in. And until Congress can do something to reform the H-2A program.”