With changing immigration policies, Northwest farmers say they're leaning more on the H-2A visa program to fill labor gaps. Domestic workers say they're losing ground. NWPB’s Renee Diaz and Johanna Bejarano joined host Phineas Pope to discuss.
Phineas Pope: Johanna, can you give a quick overview of the H-2A program?
Johanna Bejarano: The H-2A program allows farmers to legally hire workers from other countries. They come to the U.S. with a visa, which is the H-2A visa, and they process through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service when these growers need labor in the fields here.
Pope: Renee, what are some of the big concerns you're hearing right now from farmers?
Renee Diaz: From some farmers, what we're hearing is that they don't have enough people to pick their crops, and many say that the H-2A guest worker program is just too expensive for them in Washington state. It's not even an option for many.
They're dealing with an already small pool of labor, and with immigration challenges, it's making it even harder to find workers. Because of inconsistent labor, growers are unable to meet shipment needs.
Pope: What about concerns from workers, especially around immigration enforcement, Johanna?
Bejarano: When it comes to local workers, we have heard that they have fear of going to the fields, fears of being detained by ICE agents when they are going to work.
There have not been massive raids here in Washington state, but they still feel uncertain about what could happen here in the Pacific Northwest. We have also heard that growers, people who contract H-2A workers, are trying to inform them and advise them on having their documentation on hand in case of an (ICE) encounter.
Pope: How is that shortage of workers affecting crop harvests in the region?
Diaz: Some farmers say that they're falling behind this harvest season. One pear grower told us his crew usually fills about 200 bins a day, but some days they barely manage 14. Farmers say they're spending more time on the same plots than before, when they could move faster to the next area.
We also heard from another cherry farmer who says he's left between 15% to 20% on the tree this year due to the lack of workers. He preferred to leave them there because they would no longer be usable.
Pope: And Johanna, all of this reporting, which we should mention is ongoing, is a collaborative effort.
Bejarano: It's a collaboration between the Yakima Herald-Republic, El Sol de Yakima, and NWPB. It was born during a training on immigration that the managing editor of the Yakima Herald and I attended in El Paso, Texas, with the Poynter Institute. We secured the grant for working on this project, which is focused on the impact of immigration in the agricultural industry in the Pacific Northwest.
And we also involved different reporters from the Yakima Herald and Northwest Public Broadcasting to produce four stories on this issue. One about the H-2A workers, another one on the domestic workers, and we have two more coming in the next few weeks.
Note: This transcript has been edited for clarity.
