Biden Immigration Reform Seen as Opportunity to Expand H2A

House Democrats have introduced a sweeping immigration overhaul package called the U.S. Citizenship Act. The centerpiece is an 8-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.

The bill is likely an opening salvo in negotiations with Republicans over broad immigration and border security changes, according to Paul Bleiberg, Senior Vice President of Government Relations for the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF). His organization is one of many that will be pushing for tweaks to immigration reform.

“We've long prioritized two solutions, one being an adjustment of status to provide a permanent legal status to our current farm workers and their families who are obviously very important to the communities that they're in, as well as an expansion of the H2A guest worker program in a way that would allow dairy and other year-round sectors to actually be able to use the program,” Bleiberg told the DC Signal to Noise Podcast.

It’s that expansion of the H2A guest worker program that is not included in the House bill.

Both Bleiberg and Pro Farmer Policy Analyst Jim Wiesemeyer see the bill as a marker, or a starting point for what likely will be piecemeal approach to immigration and border security reform. Wiesemeyer says one big, comprehensive bill stands little chance in Congress.

“If you want to have a comprehensive thing, that's where this thing has fallen down in the past,” Wiesemeyer notes.

The dairy industry may already have a step up on the first bill in that piecemeal approach.  The Farm Workforce Modernization Act was approved in the House late in 2019, but stalled in the Senate after COVID-19 response consumed the attention in Washington.  That bill contains the H2A expansion sought by the dairy industry.  Under House rules, there is a narrow window for the chamber to reconsider legislation approved in the previous session without repeating the hearing process.  NMPF is pushing for the House to approve that measure once again, according to Bleiberg.

House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Cong. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-Penn.) voted for that bill in the 116th Congress, but says he wants to see changes when the new Congress reconsiders it.

“I think one of the biggest problems when it comes to agriculture is, we administer these programs through the Department of Labor,” Thompson says. “The Department of Labor just really looks at numbers. We need an ag workforce immigration policy that is administered, I believe, through USDA, because that's where the professionals are when it comes to knowing what it takes to make sure that this country has the food and the fiber that we need to maintain food security, but also to have a prosperous, a robust rural economy.”

Thompson says he also wants to strip pay rates out of the bill.  Proponents of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act will be briefing House Ag Republicans in the coming days, according to Thompson.