Organizations representing farm workers in the United States intensified their opposition to the Agricultural Sector Workplace Security Act (SAWA), warning that the initiative promoted in the House of Representatives would consolidate a wage reduction for agricultural laborers, expand the H-2A temporary visa program and facilitate the replacement of American workers with foreign labor with fewer labor protections.

The United Farm Workers (UFW) and the UFW Foundation formally rejected the legislative proposal presented by the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Republican GT Thompson, considering that the initiative favors the interests of large agricultural companies to the detriment of farm workers and rural communities.

One of the main questions of both organizations is that the project would permanently incorporate the salary methodology promoted by President Donald Trump's administration for the H-2A program, a policy that is currently facing challenges in federal courts.

The UFW recalled that a similar regulation issued during Trump's first term was annulled by a federal court in 2020, considering that it violated US administrative law. Now, he maintains, Congress intends to turn those criteria into law.

According to the union, the proposal would reduce the wages of agricultural workers by between $3 and $7 per hour, depending on the state, in addition to authorizing employers to deduct or charge the cost of accommodation for day laborers and establish a system that, they say, would lead to most workers receiving wages located in the 17th percentile of the labor market.

Another of the most controversial points is the expansion of the H-2A temporary visa program, used by agricultural employers to hire foreign workers when they demonstrate that there is not enough labor available in the United States.

The legislation, according to their accusation, would allow the program to be extended to year-round jobs, when it is currently oriented mainly toward temporary or seasonal agricultural work. It would also expand the legal definition of “agriculture,” which, according to the UFW, would open the door for other economic sectors to use workers on H-2A visas.

The organizations maintain that this would increase the displacement of American workers and expand a system that various labor rights organizations consider vulnerable to abuse, because workers depend on a single employer to maintain their immigration status.