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By Don Jenkins, Capital Press

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson said he will introduce this month long-awaited legislation to reform the H-2A program.

The Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act will make hiring foreign farmworkers easier and less expensive, Thompson said in an online forum June 15 with Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash.

The act would allow farmworkers in the U.S. illegally to apply to join the H-2A program. The bill also would let H-2A workers fill year-round jobs, rather than just seasonal jobs.

“No bill is ever perfect. but this does a lot more than any H-2A reform bill we’ve seen in a long time,” Worker and Farmer Labor Association CEO Enrique Gastelum said. “It allows people to come out of the shadows and continue to work in agriculture.”

More than 398,000 farm jobs were filled in fiscal year 2025 by H-2A workers, according to the Labor Department. In 20 years, the number of H-2A workers has increased by 729%.

Nevertheless, high costs, cumbersome rules and barring H-2A workers from year-round jobs mar the program, Thompson, a Pennsylvania Republican, said in a letter to House members.

“The existing H-2A program is not sufficient to meet the needs of today, much less the demands of the future,” he said.

H-2A workers are supposed to supplement, not replace U.S. workers. USDA’s Economic Research Service estimates 40% of U.S. farmworkers are illegal immigrants. President Trump said last year he wants to legalize those workers, without granting citizenship.

Thompson told House colleagues that his bill is consistent with Trump’s remarks.

National Council of Agricultural Employers CEO and President John Hollay said he expects the bill to have bipartisan support.

With the border secure and the farm crisis becoming more apparent, agricultural workforce reform may not be viewed as a “politically toxic, niche issue,” he said.

“I do think absolutely this is an opportune time,” Hollay said.

To apply for a H-2A visa, an illegal immigrant would have to be a farmworker, undergo a background check and an interview. Farmworkers could continue working while their applications were being considered.

The bill protects farms from being punished for employing illegal immigrants who apply for legal status. To encourage applications, the bill may need some protections for workers, Gastelum said.

Thompson’s bill also would give congressional approval to rules the Trump administration adopted to lower labor costs.

Annual increases in minimum hourly H-2A wages would be capped at 3.5%. Farms could deduct from worker paychecks for housing.

The act would allow H-2A workers to enter the country on 350-day contracts. Contracts are currently limited to 10 months.

For the first time, agricultural operations, such as dairies, nurseries, processors and livestock operations would be able to fill non-seasonal jobs with H-2A workers. “It would be a potentially significant increase in the H-2A program,” Hollay said.

Gastelum, whose organization recruits foreign farmworkers, said the bill may be opposed by lawmakers who are against relaxing immigration enforcement.

The bill also could be opposed by lawmakers who see the Trump administration’s wage rules as rolling back farmworker pay, he said.