'My harvest would be lost': Visa program for farm workers facing uncertain future under Trump

06 January

President-elect Donald Trump hasn't backed down from his promise to carry out mass deportations after returning to the White House on Monday, January 20. In fact, he has maintained that the deportations will be a top priority.

But some major economists, including former New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, have warned that mass deportations could inflict major harm in the U.S. economy — as agriculture and other industries are quite reliant on workers from other countries.

In an article published on January 6 — the day outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris oversaw the counting and certification of Trump's Electoral College victory over her in the 2024 election — Arizona Republic reporters Clara Migoya and Laura Gersony emphasize that agriculture has grown increasingly dependent on the H-2A visa program, whose future is uncertain now that he's on his way back to the White House.

"Undocumented workers still make up about half of the workforce across the country," Migoya and Gersony explain, "but the number of H-2A workers has quadrupled in just a decade. Already under strain, the workforce is in the spotlight following the victory of President-elect Donald Trump, a candidate who won reelection warning of competition between native-born Americans and migrants, particularly those who are undocumented."

Migoya and Gersony note that Trump "attempted to tweak the H-2A program during his first term in office, though the agriculture industry continues to push for a more comprehensive reform effort."

According to the reporters, "The political future of the issue is critical for thousands of farmers and farm workers, whether through reforms to the H-2A system or deportations of unauthorized migrants…. The H-2A program has an outsize effect in parts of Arizona, a border state that produces 25 percent of the nation's leafy greens and where employment eligibility checks are mandatory for all businesses."

Gonzalo Quintero, an Arizona-based agriculture veteran, warns that his "harvest would be lost" if fewer H-2A workers are available.

Quintero told the Arizona Republic, "The locals, we who were in the field, we’re running out. If I wanted to put together a lemon (harvest) crew, I wouldn't get enough people."

Read the full Arizona Republic article at this link (subscription required).

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