Defense of farm workforce bill falls woefully short
By Preston Huennekens December 11, 2019 No Comments
A recent column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch authored by John C. Watkins and Craig Regelbrugge exaggerates the benefits of H.R. 5038, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. The column makes three claims in particular that demand further scrutiny.
The writers boldly suggest that “the visa program known as H-2A is expensive, bureaucratic and unreliable. It falls far short of meeting the needs of our farmers.†What they do not tell readers is that the H-2A program is actually an unlimited guestworker program. It is uncapped, meaning that employers enrolled in the program receive as many guestworkers as they need.
To their credit, the H-2A is expensive and bureaucratic – when compared to hiring undocumented aliens under the table. How can an industry complain about “labor shortages†when they have an uncapped and unlimited visa program at their disposal that they refuse to use?
https://www.immigrationreform.com/2019/12/11/illegal-workers-farm-bill-congress-immigrationreform-com/
