Approximately 1.6 million migrant and seasonal farmworkers toil in labor-intensive crops, including fruits, vegetables and horticultural products, not including their family members (and excluding livestock and some other agricultural workers).  Most farmworkers are foreign-born and poor, have limited education, and lack authorized immigration status.  Because their working conditions are often poor and they are discriminated against in our labor laws, many farmworkers leave agriculture when they have the opportunity to do so.  This instability causes constant demand for new migrant workers from abroad and public policies to facilitate migration.  Agribusiness and other employers have succeeded in preventing meaningful labor law enforcement or immigration law enforcement in the workplace.  It is often advantageous to hire vulnerable undocumented workers who will work hard without challenging unfair or illegal treatment as the employer’s risks of prosecution are low and the penalties are minor.  

Accordingly, immigration and labor law are critical issues affecting the lives of farmworkers.  Estimates regarding the number of undocumented farmworkers indicate that over half of all farmworkers are undocumented.  The ability to legalize immigration status is key to enabling farmworkers to come out of the shadows and to bargain for better working and living conditions. 

This section of our webpage provides information about key immigration and labor issues affecting farmworkers. See the descriptions below for information about what can be found under each section.

AgJOBS & Immigration Legislation

This section provides information about the bipartisan labor-management compromise AgJOBS, the Agricultural Jobs Opportunities Benefits and Security Act.  It includes sections providing general information about AgJOBS, alternative legislative proposals to AgJOBS, information about the congressional debates involving AgJOBS, information about comprehensive immigration reform proposals and farmworkers, and historical information about the debate leading to the AgJOBS compromise and the history of AgJOBS in previous Congresses.

Labor Laws and Legislation

This section addresses labor laws and proposed legislation impacting farmworkers.  It includes an overview of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.  The section also contains information about current legislative labor proposals affecting farmworkers, including proposed changes to the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act and information about the battle to raise the minimum wage.

Guestworker Programs

This section provides information about guestworker programs, which are programs in which employers may import temporary foreign workers to perform work in the United States.  By their very nature, guestworker programs subject the foreign workers and corresponding U.S. workers to poor wages and working conditions. This page includes information about guestworker program basics and detailed information about the H-2A temporary agricultural guestworker program and the H-2B temporary nonagricultural guestworker program. 

Contingent Workers

This section addresses information about the use of labor contractors and other contingent-worker arrangements.  Many farmworkers are hired to work on farms through intermediaries, often called "farm labor contractors" or "crewleaders." This section includes information about what Farmworker Justice has been doing to combat the abuses often associated with these contingent worker arrangements.

International Labor Rights

Agricultural workers in the United States have been a transnational labor force for centuries.  This section discusses some of Farmworker Justice’s major efforts to empower America’s farmworkers to improve their living and working conditions using international labor standards and international law forums, and collaborating with international labor advocacy organizations.  The section includes information about FJ’s guestworker symposia, the North American Commission for Labor Cooperation, and the International Labor Organization.

Litigation

Farmworker Justice has engaged in advocacy and litigation on behalf of H-2A workers to force the U.S. government to enforce and employers to abide by existing labor protections.  This section includes information about FJ’s litigation.

Resources

This section includes reports and links to websites and other information about labor and immigration policy issues affecting farmworkers.