Immigration Reform: What's Next for Agriculture?

Philip Martin

from ARE Update Vol. 15, No. 2, Nov/Dec, 2011

View Article PDF: Immigration Reform: What's Next for Agriculture?

Abstract

About 5% of U.S. workers, and over 50% of the workers employed on U.S. crop farms are unauthorized. This article explains how immigration reforms in the past increased the availability of unauthorized farm workers, allowing employers to become complacent about farm labor. However, federal government audits of employers, and more states requiring employers to use the federal E-Verify database to check the legal status of new hires, have increased worries about the cost and availability of farm workers.

Keywords

Farmworkers, unauthorized, undocumented workers, farm labor, SAW, AgJOBS, H-2A, immigration policy

Citation

Philip Martin. 2011. "Immigration Reform: What's Next for Agriculture?" ARE Update 15(2): 5-8. University of California Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics.
https://giannini.ucop.edu/filer/file/1453327761/16874/