Last year Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the goal of a 100% American farm workforce, but only 182 Americans applied for the advertised 415,000 agricultural jobs, according to the Wall Street Journal. Due to the labor shortage, some crops have gone to waste in the fields, the U.S. imports more food, and wholesale fresh vegetable prices soared 48% in one year.
The Trump plan was such a failure, that this year the Trump administration has adopted the opposite strategy. The White House has now eliminated any cap on the number of H-2A visas issued for seasonal guest workers, and was in federal court in March arguing for more foreign farm workers. But this new plan is also facing roadblocks, because the administration tried to lower U.S. Labor Dept. minimum wage standards for these guest workers by $3 to $7 per hour, according to the San Fernando Sun. However, lowering wages for guest workers drives down wages for domestic workers, which violates the laws governing the entire H-2A visa program. The Trump administration should know this, since they lost a court battle over the same issue in 2020 in a suit by the United Farm Workers (UFW). The UFW calls the current violations an “illegal wage cut,” and is back in court, where it expects another victory.
