Letter to the Editor: Congress Should Pass Immigration Reform

The article “Ag issues crop up in Gardner’s tour” quotes a farm operator who suggests that problems in the H-2A agricultural guest worker program should be solved by turning the program over to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA has no infrastructure, expertise, or history administering guest worker programs, in agriculture or in any other sector.

The U.S. Department of Labor has the longstanding responsibility for several guest worker programs. Taxpayer money would be wasted in such a restructuring.

Although H-2A program delays are being addressed, we agree that there should be more resources to administer the program and enforce the modest labor protections for U.S. and foreign farmworkers. The fees charged to employers for this program’s services are woefully low, inadequate to the task, and should be raised. The more important solution is for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform that includes an opportunity for immigration status and a path to citizenship for undocumented farmworkers, who make up the majority of the agricultural workforce.

BRUCE GOLDSTEIN
Washington, District of Columbia
 

The article “Ag issues crop up in Gardner’s tour” quotes a farm operator who suggests that problems in the H-2A agricultural guest worker program should be solved by turning the program over to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA has no infrastructure, expertise, or history administering guest worker programs, in agriculture or in any other sector.

The U.S. Department of Labor has the longstanding responsibility for several guest worker programs. Taxpayer money would be wasted in such a restructuring.

Although H-2A program delays are being addressed, we agree that there should be more resources to administer the program and enforce the modest labor protections for U.S. and foreign farmworkers. The fees charged to employers for this program’s services are woefully low, inadequate to the task, and should be raised. The more important solution is for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform that includes an opportunity for immigration status and a path to citizenship for undocumented farmworkers, who make up the majority of the agricultural workforce.

BRUCE GOLDSTEIN
Washington, District of Columbia