Federal judge considers cutting H-2A wages for California immigrant farmworkers – CalMatters

from Sergio Olmos and Wendy FryCalMatters

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A the Trump administration The lawyer acknowledged that “there aren’t enough Americans to fill these jobs” at a federal court hearing in Fresno this week as he defended a policy that would lower wages for immigrant workers.

The lawsuit, filed by the United Farm Workers in the U.S. District Court for Eastern California, challenges a federal wage rule related to the H-2A agriculture visa program, which allows U.S. employers to hire temporary workers from abroad, mostly from Mexico, for agricultural jobs not filled by domestic workers.

The question is whether this new rule lowers wages in a way that could affect the broader workforce and affect U.S. workers by reducing their pay. Federal law requires that H-2A wages not undercut domestic wages.

The case highlights the agriculture industry’s dependence on immigrant labor at a time when the Trump administration is using military tactics to immigration pushwhile at the same time trying to make it cheaper for manufacturers and farmers to hire temporary foreign workers.

Producers say labor costs have been rising for decades, warning that without changes some farms could close.

The union representing farmworkers has argued in lawsuits that employers, especially those in agribusiness, would extend the wage cuts to every farmworker, including American workers.

U.S. District Judge Kirk Sheriff said he plans to issue a written ruling soon that will either uphold or halt the Trump administration’s policy.

The new interim rule splits H-2A workers into two tiers, resulting in 92% of farmworkers being categorized as “unskilled” and setting their pay at the 17th percentile of the median wage, meaning 92% of farmworkers will earn what the bottom 17% of Americans earn.

The nonprofit think tank Institute Economic Policy estimated the minimum wage for many farm workers will drop to $13.70 an hour. Their average minimum wage last year was $17.43. The minimum wage in California is $16.90.

Alexandra McTague Schulte, an attorney representing the US Department of Labor, argued that the government has a duty to protect American workers from the adverse wage effects of H-2A workers.

The Department of Labor refused to admit that bringing in foreign labor at reduced wages would affect the wages of American workers. Schulte said the proposed lower minimum wage for H-2A visa holders would not affect citizens because farmers can no longer find enough workers, meaning the demand for labor is greater than the supply.

In return, Sheriff seemed to disagree. He said setting wages for the vast majority of H-2A farmworkers at “a level far below similar workers, including Americans,” would undermine the market.

“Isn’t that just math?” Sheriff asked.

Schulte didn’t answer directly, saying, “I’m not good at math, your honor.”

Outside court, UFW President Teresa Romero said immigrant workers are in a weak position to bargain for better pay.

“We know a lot of the workers don’t speak English. We know a lot of the workers are told, ‘if you don’t like it, go somewhere else,'” she said, noting that many of them are undocumented and don’t feel they can speak.

Balancing the need for labor with immigration policy is an issue the US has wrestled with for decades, dating back to the 1950s and an Eisenhower-era program named offensively to Latinos. The H-2A program is a direct successor to the Bracero program, an agreement between the United States and Mexico to hire 4.5 million temporary workers to fill agricultural and railroad labor shortages during World War II.

Today in California, temp workers do everything from herd cattle to pushing strollers and selling fruit bars and ice creamaccording to federal records. The number of certified H-2A workers broke out in the Golden State by 2022, but fell by 7% in 2023. In that year, about 88,000 of them entered the US with a work destination in California.

Mixed signals from Trump for farmworkers

The Trump administration has promised that the “largest deportation operation in American history” will give American workers better jobs and pay. But it also quietly tried to cooperate with farmers to deal with their dwindling workforce. And senior Trump officials have acknowledged that the raids and crackdown have led to further shortages.

In October, the Ministry of Labor wrote in regulatory documentation that finding workers is harder after the immigration crackdown.

“The near-total cessation of the flow of illegal aliens, combined with the lack of available legal labor,” the document said, “results in significant disruptions to production costs and threatens the stability of domestic food production and prices for American consumers.” The document also says that American workers are not interested in and lack the skills to perform agricultural work.

It also contradicted US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who said the farm workforce one day he will be 100% American.

Trump’s tornado of immigration policy changes that began in his first hours in office has created chaos in the courts and fear and confusion at the border for legal temporary workers.

In 2025, a group of about a dozen H-2A workers who had entered the U.S. legally through the San Ysidro Port of Entry to pick fruit in Fallbrook were ordered to appear in immigration court the next day and then mistakenly placed in removal proceedings. Some said they feared they would end up in prison in El Salvador because they came to work legally.

Trump said in June that his administration was working on “some kind of temporary pass” for immigrants who are not legally authorized to work but have jobs in farms and hotels.

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