Congress Pressures Department of Labor on H-2A Applications

Last week, Congressman Dan Newhouse (R-WA) led a bipartisan letter of 102 Members of Congress to U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Leon Rodriguez discussing the need to address problems with the administration of the H-2A agricultural guest worker program.  There has been widespread reports across the country about serious delays in the processing of applications and visa petitions.  This has resulted in significant delays in the arrival of workers to farms that have significant labor needs.  The Congressional letter includes several recommendations and urges the agencies to expeditiously process H-2A applications before farmers’ dates of need for labor.