Propublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates power abuse. Sign up for Dispatches. This is a newsletter that spotlights misconduct across the country, where you receive your stories in your inbox every week.
The H-2A visa program has long been advertised as a way to ensure farmers have access to adequate workers without hiring undocumented people. But for immigrant farm workers seeking better paying jobs in America, their seasonal gigs have turned into a nightmare.
As recent Propublica stories revealed, the promises of the H-2A Visa program can be undermined by the extreme abuse that workers suffer, primarily by labor contractors. Federal investigations have found that some workers are being stolen and threatened with deportation if they complained about unsafe working conditions. In the worst case scenario, others have been assaulted, raped or even died. It’s getting so bad that in one of the biggest H-2A criminal cases to date, federal judges described these workers’ abuse as a form of modern slavery. And without further changes to the H-2A program, experts told Propublica that foreign farm workers could continue to be harmed.
As the US faces a dramatic shortage of domestic farm workers and the Trump administration deports more undocumented immigrants, experts told Propublica they are confident that the H-2A visa is in high demand. One agricultural economist predicts that by 2030, it could require around 500,000 H-2A workers to the number requested in 2016, when President Donald Trump was first elected.
Experts, lawyers and advocates told Propublica that cases of abuse and exploitation are likely to increase unless further done to protect workers. They proposed various ways to make the H-2A program safer and more humane.
1. Enforce current rules better
The H-2A program is supposed to provide fair wages, safe working conditions and free housing and transportation to workers. However, experts said inadequate surveillance undermines the protections promised to visa holders.
“The expectations are very clear,” said Cesar Escalante, professor of agriculture and applied economics at the University of Georgia. “Even if the regulations were very clear, the government has failed to enforce them.”
The U.S. Department of Labor examines only a small percentage of farm employers each year. The number of investigations is not due to a lack of potential violations. A report from the government’s Accountability Office showed that 84% of surveys conducted by federal regulators found violations of at least one of the rules designed to protect H-2A workers. Advocates view the high rate of violations as an indication that regulators lack even more abuse on the field.
Labor experts believe that limited enforcement is primarily due to limited resources. One of the main enforcers of the H-2A rules, the Wages and Time Division of the Labor Bureau, had one of the lowest level investigators since the H-2A program was launched in the 1980s last year, researchers at Rutgers University found. Daniel Costa, immigration lawyer and director at the think tank Institute for Economic Policy, asked Congress to boost the department’s funding so that regulators can conduct more aggressive investigations. Other than that, Costa warned that the H-2A program remains a “breeding ground for abuse.”
If the Trump administration’s proposed budget is approved, it will further reduce wage and time divisions. That could mean fewer H-2A surveys moving forward.
A spokesman for the Labor Bureau did not respond to Propoblica’s request for comments on its enforcement practices and the implications of the budget proposal.
2. Raise the stakes for the farmers
There was a call to not only hold farmers more accountable for H-2A violations, but also reward those who comply with labor laws.
Advocacy groups like the Centro de Los Derechos Del Migrante and the United Farm workers are seeking to be held liable for the illegal activities of third-party recruiters who hire farmers. There is now a bill proposed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers who require farmers to stop working with recruiters who charge workers for illegal costs to obtain an H-2A visa. And it would give regulators the ability to fine-tune farmers for not doing so.
With only a small percentage of employers who employ H-2A workers facing serious consequences, human rights groups are also urging regulators to suspend or ban more employers from the H-2A program. They say it is particularly important for employers with a track record of violating workers’ rights.
Philip Martin, professor of agriculture and resource economics at the University of California, Davis, believes farmers should be rewarded by following the rules. He said the biggest employer of H-2A workers is generally not responsible for the worst offence. He believes regulators need to create a TSA Precheck-style program that will allow law-abiding employers to move the process of approving H-2A workers more quickly and more quickly at bureaucratic hurdles. It also allows working regulators to focus on the most pressing issues.
3. Stop abuse and get companies on board
There is a growing movement centered around the idea that consumer power can be used to end agricultural abuse.
After years of demanding better wages and protection from individual farmers and buyers, the Immokary Workers Union – the anti-trafficking organization that unveiled the first instance of abuse in a massive federal incident, launched its Fair Food Program in 2010.
Participating buyers agree to purchase produce from farms that comply with the strict protection set of workers in the program, allowing workers to be informed of their rights by the CIW, allowing independent auditors to investigate complaints from their field. Buyers also agree to pay these growers a small premium that will be handed over to the workers. If extreme abuse, such as forced labor, is found on these farms, the buyer promises to suspend production orders until the issue is addressed.
Some of America’s largest supermarkets (Walmart, Whole Foods) and fast food chains (McDonald’s, Burger King) are participating in the Fair Food Program. Company participation was originally limited to selected crops such as tomatoes. Since then, some of their commitments have grown to include more crops. Other major buyers like Kroger, Publix and Wendy’s are not participating in the program. A corporate spokesperson did not respond to Propublica’s request for comment. Buyers who are not part of the program say it is the supplier’s responsibility to ensure that workers are treated fairly.
According to an independent auditor, fair food programs protect the rights of thousands of H-2A workers each year, but according to the CIW, less than a tenth of the more than 300,000 H-2A workers in the United States, the more buyers and growers accept the program, the more likely they are to be prevented from abuse of H-2A workers.
Susan Marquis, professor at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, said other ideas proposed by experts would help reduce the harm faced in the field. But they don’t go to a fair food programme to stop the types of violations that occur on a daily basis in the H-2A program.
“It’s very clear that nothing works to end forced labor, supported by data, except for fair food programs and other variations in work-driven social responsibility,” Marquis said.
H-2A Visa Trap
