H-2A Farm Worker Visa Program Shifts from Labor to Agriculture Department: What It Means for Farmers and Workers

This bill, simply titled the Moving H–2A to United States Department of Agriculture Act of 2025, is all about rearranging the furniture in the federal bureaucracy. It proposes taking the entire H-2A temporary agricultural visa program—the one that brings thousands of seasonal farmworkers into the country—and moving its management from the Department of Labor (DOL) over to the Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The Bureaucratic Hand-Off

Think of this as a major administrative transfer. Currently, the DOL handles the labor side of the H-2A process, focusing on things like ensuring fair wages and working conditions. Under this bill (SEC. 2), the Secretary of Agriculture would take over all administrative responsibility for the program. The bill also updates the legal text, swapping the Attorney General for the Secretary of Homeland Security in the relevant section of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This shift isn't instant; it kicks in 60 days after the bill becomes law. On that day, the DOL has to physically transfer all staff, funding, and resources needed to run the program directly to the USDA. This 60-day deadline means the transfer needs to happen fast and cleanly, or the entire program could experience a bottleneck.

Why This Matters for Farmers and Workers

For a farmer who relies on H-2A workers to harvest crops, this change means they would no longer deal with the DOL for their labor certifications; they’d be working directly with the USDA, the agency that already focuses on their industry. The hope for many in agriculture is that this move will streamline the visa process, making it faster and potentially more responsive to the specific, often urgent, needs of planting and harvesting cycles. The USDA is already deeply familiar with the agricultural sector, which could, theoretically, lead to more efficient program administration.

The Shift in Focus: Labor vs. Production

Here’s the rub, and why the change in oversight is a big deal for the workers themselves: The DOL’s core mission is worker protection. Historically, they have been the federal agency tasked with enforcing labor standards, including the wage and housing requirements that come with the H-2A program. The USDA’s core mission, however, is promoting American agriculture and supporting food production. When you move the program, you shift the primary oversight from an agency focused on labor to an agency focused on production.

For the H-2A workers who depend on the program's labor protections, this raises a question about enforcement. Will the USDA, which is primarily focused on the success of the agricultural industry, maintain the same level of scrutiny over wages, housing, and working conditions that the DOL historically has? While the bill doesn't change the underlying rules of the H-2A program, the administration and enforcement of those rules will now fall to a different agency. This means that while the goal is efficiency for employers, the practical challenge will be ensuring that worker safeguards don't take a backseat during the transition or under the new management structure.