KJEANRL Blog
An Imperfect Solution: Why the Current H-2A Visa Program Cannot Make up for Deported Farm Laborers
Abstract
With deportation efforts underway, many criticisms have been raised regarding how President Trump’s executive orders might affect the agriculture industry. It is no secret that a large portion of farm workers in the United States are unauthorized. In 2022, the United States Department of Agriculture put the number of unauthorized crop farmworkers at 42% of the total workforce. The Center for Migration Studies estimates that the number of unauthorized agriculture workers is around 283,000; however, this number is highly variable and is likely much larger due to workers not wanting to self-report their status as unauthorized. The significant portion of these workers come from Mexico and about half are working in California. The wisdom of President Trump’s deportation policy is debatable, but what is certain is that over a quarter of a million people in the United States should not be left in a legal limbo, simultaneously performing critical labor and risking deportation at any moment.
Document Type
Blog Post
Publication Date
8-27-2025
Repository Citation
Larrabee, Samuel, "An Imperfect Solution: Why the Current H-2A Visa Program Cannot Make up for Deported Farm Laborers" (2025). KJEANRL Blog. 702.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/law_kjeanrlblog/702
Notes/Citation Information
Samuel Larrabee, An Imperfect Solution: Why the Current H-2A Visa Program Cannot Make up for Deported Farm Laborers, The KJEANRL Blog (August 27, 2025), https://perma.cc/KQ8S-BA36.