Ag Policy Blog

The plight of farmers and farm workers in the face of mass deportation policies intensified, but that might not mean there is a will in Congress to tackle farm labor reforms this year.

Yet, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., explained to DTN in an interview that she remains optimistic a bill can get through Congress even if leaders in key House committees continue to be roadblocks.

Lofgren was a lead sponsor the last two times the House passed versions of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act when Democrats were in the majority. The bill passed in 2019 with 260 votes and passed in 2021 with 247 votes. Both times, the Senate failed to take up the bill, or pass a similar version.

The Farm Workforce Modernization Act, H.R. 3227, was reintroduced in May this year in the House, led again by Lofgren and Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., along with four other House members. Newhouse noted when the bill was reintroduced, "The workforce crisis has come to a boiling point for farmers across the country," Newhouse said. "Reintroducing the Farm Workforce Modernization Act sends a clear message to farmers that we are working hard to find solutions that ease the burdens brought on by the current state of the H-2A program. This legislation is necessary to lay the groundwork for continued negotiations, and I am committed to working closely with my colleagues to enact long-term, durable reforms to our agriculture guest worker programs. This issue has been, and remains, my top priority and unified Republican government is an opportunity to deliver for our farmers and ranchers."

The bill was introduced shortly before immigration officers began making more aggressive raids on farms in states such as California, New Mexico and Florida over the past month.

The new bill currently lists just six House members sponsoring it, down from as many as 62 co-sponsors in 2019. Lofgren said there are other Democrats who want to join the bill, but said she and others are making an effort to add new co-sponsors on a bipartisan basis, Lofgren said.

"What we're trying to do is make it as much as possible evenly balanced between Republicans and Democrats," she said. "There are a ton of Democrats who want to be on, but the Republican co-sponsors haven't identified additional Republicans yet."

Still, Lofgren acknowledged the farmworker bill is unlikely to get a hearing or markup in the House Judiciary Committee in this Congress. Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, hasn't given any indication he would consider the bill.

"This bill would have a rough time under Chairman Jim Jordan, and (Rep.) Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) chairs the Immigration Subcommittee and he's not a supporter," Lofgren said.

Farm groups have repeatedly noted House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson, R-Pa., has criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids on farms as "wrong," but Thompson's committee has no direct authority over immigration legislation.

Lofgren said the 2019 and 2021 bills were products of negotiation that took more than nine months to work out. United Farm Workers and Western Growers were both at the table, along with other groups representing agricultural employers. "It was a compromise. I'm not going to say it was a perfect bill, but everybody agreed it was better than the current situation."

In condemning raids on California farms, United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero pointed to the Farm Workforce Modernization Act as a way to solve the problem. "That would keep farmworkers here with a path to legalization," Romero told the Fresno, (Calif.) Bee. "And it would keep the workforce in agriculture that we need, and the growers will not have to worry about who's going to be taking their crops."

Lofgren said the current House bill was reintroduced mainly as a marker bill. If a farm labor bill is going to pass in the current Congress, this time it will need to pass the U.S. Senate first.

"It's the Senate that needs to act now," she said. "Two times it passed the House; the Senate just sat on it. They didn't do anything."

Lofgren, however, said she is optimistic the Senate will take a closer look at farmworker and immigration reform once they finish the budget reconciliation bill, or as she described it, "this big tax scam bill."

"I don't think anybody's thinking about this but I've talked to both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate," Lofgren said. "Procedurally, it could work this way. If the Senate passes it, they would need 60 votes, right, which would mean that it would have broad support among Democrats and Republicans."

That would then allow House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to put the bill on the House floor, if he chooses to do so, Lofgren said.

That scenario, though, almost played out 12 years ago. The Senate in June 2013 passed a larger, comprehensive immigration bill on a 68-32 vote. That prompted large immigration rallies at the Capitol, led by farm workers, calling on the House to follow suit. The Republican-led House never scheduled a floor debate on the bill so it died when Congress adjourned.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has indicated multiple times over the last month that the Trump administration could expand and change the H-2A program. The Deseret News in Utah reported Rollins spoke about farm labor at the Western Governors Association meeting on Monday suggesting she and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer would look to make some adjustments to the H-2A program in the near future.

"There is a lot we can do to make the process easier, more efficient, to ensure that, especially for our smaller to mid-size farms that don't have the armies of lawyers," Rollins said at the conference.

Rollins also has repeatedly said Congress would have to act to make major reforms in farm-labor policies.

Lofgren agreed Congress would need to pass a bill for major changes to H-2A, such as allowing year-round workers in the program. But she said the administration can choose to change its enforcement strategies.

"Certainly, enforcement priorities are up to the administration," she said. "Keep in mind that during the pandemic, Trump, as president, identified certain jobs as essential workers and farm workers were one of them."

Lofgren added, "The president has the ability to set priorities for how to enforce the law. They said they were going to remove violent criminals. Everybody's for that. But instead, they're going to Home Depots and restaurants and arresting bus boys and people picking strawberries in the Central Coast of California. I mean, that shouldn't be a priority. I thought it was supposed to be violent criminals."

Editor's note: For several weeks, DTN also has been publishing a series of stories focusing on ag labor challenges and solutions. Most of the stories first appeared in the Progressive Farmer Summer issue, "Labor Pains."

For links to more DTN/Progressive Farmer stories that are part of our ongoing "Navigating Ag's Labor Crisis" coverage, visit https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @ChrisClaytonDTN

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