Newhouse reintroduces Farm Workforce Modernization Act
A farm worker installs twine in a hop field near Moxee. A bill reintroduced in Congress would enable a large number of undocumented farm workers in Washington a way to work legally.
AP
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bipartisan bill to make hiring and retaining foreign farm workers more feasible was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives May 7 by Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-WA, and Zoe Lofgren, D-CA.
The Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2025 would establish a new category for foreign nationals living in the U.S. and working on farms and ranches. To qualify as a certified agricultural worker, or CAW, an immigrant would have to have worked in the U.S. for at least 180 days in the last two years and be inadmissible or deportable but be under a grant of deferred departure or hold temporary protected status, according to a fact sheet from Newhouse’s office. A CAW’s spouse and children could also be eligible to remain in the U.S. as certified agricultural dependents. A CAW would be eligible to work in the U.S. year-round, unlike seasonal workers admitted under the H2-A visa program.
“In the past few years, we’ve seen labor shortages contribute to high food prices. If it wasn’t obvious before, the pandemic made clear that our country’s agricultural workforce rules are in dire need of reform,” Lofgren wrote in a statement. “The men and women who work America’s farms feed the nation. The Farm Workforce Modernization Act stabilizes the workforce, which will protect the future of our farms and our food supply. It’s well past time we get this legislation that serves the best interests of our country to the president’s desk.”
The FWMA also would streamline the H-2A visa application process by funneling all applications through a single electronic platform, allowing employers to file one petition for different seasonal needs, provide H-2A workers with three-year visas and solidify wage standards, including freezing wages for one year and capping wage fluctuations for the next nine.
This isn’t the first time the FMWA has been introduced. A similar bill passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support in 2019 and 2021, but failed narrowly in the Senate in 2022. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, wrote in an op-ed that that bill, dubbed the Affordable and Secure Food Act, would have artificially driven up farm work wages, encouraged laxer border control and increased the burden of taxpayers for benefits.
“Introduction of the Affordable and Secure Food Act prioritized expediency over finding a genuine solution to the agriculture labor shortage. That bill included several items not under discussion in our many months of negotiations, such as the provision that would make Certified Agricultural Workers, who are currently undocumented, eligible for federal benefits like health care tax credits and food purchasing benefits for low-income Americans and families,” Crapo wrote.
The 2025 incarnation of the FMWA specifically bars CAWs and their families from receiving federal means-tested public benefits, tax credits and Affordable Care Act benefits that aren’t available to illegal immigrants.
The FMWA also provides a means for CAWs to adjust their status to that of lawful permanent residents after four to eight years as a CAW. The applicant would have to pay a penalty fee of $1,000, be up to date on all federal taxes and go through an application process with the Department of Homeland Security. Spouses and children of CAWs would also be eligible for this path to legal residency.
The FMWA has garnered support from not only legislators on both sides of the aisle, but also farm worker advocacy groups like the United Farm Workers of America.
“For years, agricultural employers have been reporting agricultural labor shortages to Congress – this is Congress’ chance to solve that problem.” UFW President Teresa Romero wrote in a statement. “The farm workers who feed America have earned the right to stay in America – and any agricultural labor reform legislation must start by accepting this basic moral fact.”
However, the Food Chain Workers Alliance believed the legislation didn’t go far enough.
“The FWMA … expands the H-2A program without providing necessary oversight or adequate protections, and makes e-verify mandatory for all agriculture employers,” the FCWA wrote in 2019. “It excludes many workers from a pathway to status, sets up a very long path to finally acquire residency status, and requires farmworkers to continue working in agriculture for up to 8 years to qualify.”
Nearly half of Washington’s agricultural workers, 46.6%, were undocumented as of 2019, according to a study by the New American Economy Research Fund.
“The workforce crisis has come to a boiling point for farmers across the country,” Newhouse wrote. “Reintroducing the Farm Workforce Modernization Act sends a clear message to farmers that we are working hard to find solutions that ease the burdens brought on by the current state of the H-2A program. This legislation is necessary to lay the groundwork for continued negotiations, and I am committed to working closely with my colleagues to enact long-term, durable reforms to our agriculture guest worker programs. This issue has been, and remains, my top priority.”