Dozens Of Republicans Back Bill To Legalize Non-Citizen Farm Workers

A growing dispute over agricultural labor is testing Republicans’ commitment to President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, as dozens of GOP lawmakers support legislation that would permit certain illegal immigrants already working on American farms to seek temporary legal status.

Trump decisively defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election after campaigning on border security, immigration enforcement and large-scale deportations. Since returning to the White House, his administration has sharply reduced illegal crossings at the southern border while expanding interior enforcement.

Farmers and agricultural groups, however, warn that aggressive immigration enforcement could leave labor-intensive operations without enough workers to harvest crops, tend livestock and maintain the nation’s food supply.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., is attempting to address those concerns through the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act of 2026.

Thompson formally introduced H.R. 9535 on June 30. The bipartisan legislation would overhaul the H-2A agricultural guest-worker program, expand it to year-round industries and revise wage and administrative rules that farmers argue have made the existing system too expensive and difficult to use.

The proposal has attracted support from more than 400 agricultural organizations and dozens of House lawmakers. Supporters say the current H-2A program does not adequately serve dairy farms, mushroom growers, ranches, greenhouses and other operations that require workers throughout the year rather than during a limited harvesting season.

But the bill’s provisions involving illegal immigrants already working in agriculture are likely to draw fierce resistance from immigration conservatives who fear Congress could undermine Trump’s enforcement victories by creating another form of legal accommodation.

In a letter to colleagues, Thompson argued that securing the border has created an opportunity to repair the legal agricultural labor system.

“With the border now secure, it is time to address these shortcomings and provide fair and legal pathways for all of agriculture to obtain workers when they are unable to find U.S. citizens willing to perform these noble but arduous tasks,” Thompson wrote.

Under the proposal, qualifying agricultural workers who are currently in the country illegally could seek admission into the H-2A program. Certain immigration violations could also be waived for applicants who otherwise meet the legislation’s requirements.

A policy document explaining the provision said it was included after agriculture groups raised concerns about losing experienced workers who are already employed on American farms.

“This will ensure that aliens who have self-deported or those who are here and currently working in agriculture but whose only crime is unlawfully obtaining employment will be eligible to apply for H-2A status,” the policy document said.

The legislation would not create a direct pathway to citizenship. H-2A remains a temporary, nonimmigrant classification, and Thompson’s office says the bill does not change the program’s existing prohibition against an automatic route to citizenship.

That distinction may not satisfy immigration hawks, who are likely to argue that waiving prior violations rewards workers and employers who bypassed the legal system while putting law-abiding immigrants and American workers at a disadvantage.

The proposal also faces institutional obstacles in the House. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said his panel would prioritize immigration enforcement legislation and would not immediately include Thompson’s H-2A changes in its package.

“Secure the border, step one; enforcement, step two; step three, look at all that,” Jordan said, referencing visa programs. “I think you have to go in that sequence.”

Thompson warned that moving forward with enforcement without addressing agricultural labor could create serious economic consequences for farmers.

“I expect there will be major heartburn from producers across the country if enforcement measures move forward without addressing the needs of the agriculture industry,” Thompson said in a statement, “and I remain confident in my belief that the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act of 2026 is the best farm labor solution put forth in years.”

The debate comes as the Trump administration intensifies its crackdown on alleged fraud involving other employment-based immigration programs.

Earlier this month, Vice President JD Vance and Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito announced a major investigation into suspected abuse of the H-1B visa and employment-based green-card systems.

Speaking at an anti-fraud event in Milwaukee, Vance said investigators were issuing subpoenas and examining whether businesses and labor brokers had exploited visa programs to displace Americans with improperly obtained foreign labor.

The administration’s objective, Vance said, is to ensure that “American jobs … go to American workers and not foreign fraudsters.”

The Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General said its investigation involves allegations of fraudulent applications, wage kickbacks, forced labor, worker coercion and human trafficking.

The office said it has already “uncovered widespread schemes in which employers and labor brokers submitted fraudulent applications, exploited foreign workers through coercive wage-kickback arrangements, and undercut American workers by flooding the market with below-wage labor.”

D’Esposito has said investigators believe some schemes have caused hundreds of millions of dollars in losses within the medical industry while also affecting other sectors of the economy.

The inquiry will examine suspected abuses involving H-1B workers and the PERM system used by employers seeking permanent residency for foreign employees. Federal investigators are also encouraging both American and foreign workers to report fraudulent recruitment, benching, coercion and wage violations.

Some reports have cited a 21 percent violation rate involving H-1B petitions. That figure, however, comes from a 2008 federal assessment that combined confirmed fraud with technical violations; it should not be presented as a current finding from the new investigation.

Together, the agricultural labor bill and the visa-fraud crackdown expose the difficult line Republicans must navigate.

American farmers need a dependable workforce, and a secure domestic food supply is unquestionably a national security interest. But any reform must also protect American wages, prevent trafficking and exploitation, punish employers who knowingly violate immigration law and avoid transforming temporary labor programs into backdoor amnesty.

Congress now faces a fundamental choice: reform the legal guest-worker system without weakening immigration enforcement, or create exceptions that could encourage future illegal hiring.

The Trump administration has demonstrated that the federal government can secure the border when political leaders are willing to enforce the law. Republicans must ensure that any agricultural solution builds on that success rather than quietly reversing it.