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ABSTRACT
Within the larger immigration reform debate in the U.S., the nature of guestworker policies and the fate of undocumented farmworkers have occupied Congressional attention for over two decades. Farm employers have repeatedly come before Congress to seek change in the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Program; actors also debate the conditions or existence of a path to legalization for undocumented farmworkers. This article analyses transcripts of hearings in the U.S. Congress on these issues and connections between frames speakers utilize and the role of the state in labour supply and demand in the agriculture sector. Policy actors deploy free market frames to advance policies that actually reflect state roles in constructing markets rather than interference-free competition. Their discourse reveals that, as H-2A and immigration enforcement affects labour supply, policy changes expectations of employers and some Members of Congress for the labour market. They seek policies to respond not only to “labor shortages,” but to specific worker characteristics they seek in a labour force. This constructed labour demand is reflected in themes of ties to work, who will or will not take and perform well in farm jobs, and experience.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Elizabeth Nisbet is an assistant professor of Public Management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. Her current research focuses on how public policy sets boundaries between government and market responsibilities for delivering public services and for assuring worker rights.
Notes
2 Since that time, the Administration has issued a policy memorandum to require additional documentation in cases of third-party hiring of these workers (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 22 February Citation2018).
3 Federal Register, Vol. 75, No. 32, 18 February 2010, p. 6940.
4 The number rose from about 30,000 to about 60,000 from FY 2006 to FY 2009; 89,274 visas were issued in 2014. Data available at: http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/law-and-policy/statistics/non-immigrant-visas.html; accessed 23 July 2015.
5 See data at https://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/performancedata.cfm.
6 Recruitment with publication of job orders is a required prerequisite before DOL “certifies” that insufficient workers are available and U.S. workers will not be adversely affected by approval of an H-2A application. Regulations detail requirements for advertising jobs and posting job orders. http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=96b00af0b6b7ce8e8fda30ea4c512a6f&node=20:3.0.2.1.28&rgn=div5%20-%2020:3.0.2.1.28.2 Attestation would allow employers to “attest” compliance with program requirements.
8 Accessible at: https://www.dol.gov/oasam/wirtzlaborlibrary/; http://www.senate.gov/committees/committees_home.htm; http://www.house.gov/committees/; https://www.loc.gov/
10 These include Farm Bureau (national and state level), National Council of Agricultural Employers, North Carolina Growers Association, Western Growers Association, United Farm Workers, Farmworker Justice, and the National Council of La Raza.
11 In 2012, the U.S. federal minimum wage was $7.25 (Wage and Hour Division, n.d.). In a 2011–2012 survey, farmworkers reported average earnings of $9.31 per hour and income from agricultural employment of $15,000 to $17,499.
12 See, for example, Marcos Camacho of UFW’s statement:
Further, without union representation, the best protection that most farmworkers have from abusive working conditions is the right to walk away from a bad employer and find work elsewhere. Guestworkers don’t have that right. They are either dependent on the specific employer for work and not only during the given season but from year to year. (In House Judiciary Committee, 2000, 193)
13 150 days is a measure used in surveys to distinguish seasonal from other workers.
14 The programme would have offered an opportunity for legalization to additional workers in the event of shortages.
15 Author’s calculation. NAWS data.
16 Also, see 24 September 1997 hearing of the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims.
17 Author’s calculation, NAWS data.
18 Farmworkers reported an average of fifteen years of U.S. farm work experience in a 2011–2012 survey vs. eight in 1997–1998.