American Farms Rely More Than Ever on the Troubled H-2A Visa Program

In the early months of the year, thousands of men make their way north from Mexico and Central America to tend America’s most delicate crops.They travel on chartered buses through the night to farms where they spend most of the year picking crops like blueberries and celery, produce still harvested best by human hands.These are America’s H-2A workers, named for the visa the federal government grants them.The program is uncapped, and available to seasonal agricultural employers who can’t find domestic workers.

Since 2013, as farmworkers have aged and immigration has slowed, H-2A holders have quadrupled to become a sixth of the agricultural labor force.The program is poised to grow even faster.As the Trump administration pursues undocumented immigrants, it’s becoming harder to find workers, foreign or native-born.

And the White House has restricted many avenues for legal immigration, such as refugee status, H-1B visas for skilled workers and any immigrant visas for people from 75 countries.But farmers pushed back, and the Agriculture Department responded.Last fall, it lowered the wages that guest workers must be paid, substantially decreasing the cost of the program.

In the first half of the 2026 fiscal year, the Labor Department approved 17 percent more visas than in the same period the year before.In theory, the program is mutually beneficial.Growers get crucial help during the growing season, and foreign workers make far more than they would at home without having to risk sneaking across the border....