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Immigration reform should address ag labor concerns

An ag leader says Congress needs to pass immigration and it should include farm labor solutions.

Michael Marsh with the National Council of Agricultural Employers tells Brownfield the Biden administration has been taking an aggressive approach in developing temporary legal pathways into the U.S.

“Performing whatever job it is and then they get to go home,” he says. “In agriculture, we use the H-2A visa, and the administration has been very focused on seeing whether or not we can get additional visa holders from the countries of North and Central America in an effort to stem the flow of the regular migration from those countries.”

He says people who have been waiting for asylum hearings for at least six months can get agricultural work authorizations.

“We’ve not seen a lot of those folks that are waiting for their asylum hearings show up on our farms and ranches, applying for the H-2A jobs that we have available,” he shares.

AUDIO: Michael Marsh, National Council of Agricultural Employers

In a statement to Brownfield, American Farm Bureau Federation’s John Walt Boatright says the dangerous conditions in the Southwest are severely impacting farm and ranch families, putting property and personal safety at risk.

Both he and Marsh say Congress needs immigration reform that addresses border security and needed changes to the H-2A program.