This article is made possible through Spotlight PA’s partnership with NOTUS, a nonpartisan news organization that covers government and politics with the fresh eyes of early career journalists and the expertise of veteran reporters.
Chair Jim Jordan said the House Judiciary Committee won’t take up legislation next week to expand a visa program for temporary farm workers, bucking Republicans who sought a quick path to help the agriculture industry.
The bipartisan bill, spearheaded by House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pennsylvania), would eliminate the seasonal work requirement and make other changes to the H-2A visa program, allowing for temporary workers in dairy, mushroom, ranching and greenhouse operations.
Thompson had said he believed the bill had a path forward when he introduced it last month.
“I think part of it is the border is under control, part of it is the fact that food security clearly is national security, and workforce is a main factor,” Thompson said.
But Jordan (R-Ohio) told NOTUS on Thursday he wants to pass an immigration enforcement package that resembles as close as possible the committee’s proposal from 2023. He said that proposal is slated for markup next week, and any changes to include H-2A legislation in it would have to be considered “down the road,” maybe on the House floor.
“Secure the border, step one; enforcement, step two; step three, look at all that,” Jordan said, referencing visa programs. “I think you have to go in that sequence.”
Jordan’s stance on the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act of 2026 is a setback for Thompson and agriculture industry groups, who hoped that a stronger border would be enough to get immigration-minded Republicans on board with the bill.
“I expect there will be major heartburn from producers across the country if enforcement measures move forward without addressing the needs of the agriculture industry,” Thompson said in a statement to NOTUS, “and I remain confident in my belief that the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act of 2026 is the best farm labor solution put forth in years.”
The H-2A agricultural guest worker program hasn’t changed in decades. The agriculture industry considers the changes long overdue and has waited patiently for a chance at reform.
Use of the H2-A program has increased dramatically over the past decade, reaching nearly 400,00 workers in 2025 due to the lack of American workers willing to work in the industry.
According to data from the Farm Bureau, only 182 of over 415,000 advertised positions received a domestic applicant in fiscal year 2025.
“Our need is not covered by the rules that we have today,” Mark Currie, CEO of The Giorgi Companies Inc., a company that grows and distributes mushrooms nationwide, told NOTUS at the bill’s introduction in June. “We’re never fully staffed ever.”
Currie said his company is often forced to pay overtime to harvest the crop, which creates high additional costs for producers. The Trump administration issued guidance in June that dairy farmers could use the H-2A program as long as the jobs they were trying to fill were seasonal, but the impetus has been on Congress to solidify changes.
The bill would also rewrite wage rules and let eligible undocumented farmworkers access the visa program.
“If lawmakers are serious about food security and affordability, we need to add SAWA to HR2,” said James O’Neill, director of legislative affairs for the American Business Immigration Coalition. “Enforcement only without legal pathways for long-term skilled immigrants only drives up cost of food and threatens our national security.”
While promoting the bill, Thompson boasted support from more than 400 industry groups. However, farmworker labor unions and groups that oppose more foreign workers rejected expanding the H-2A visa program.
Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Washington), one of 51 co-sponsors of the bill, said at the bill’s introduction in June that many growers turn to the H2-A program when they struggle to find the workers they need in the communities.
“The cost of that program truly is putting very big hardship on our farmers, on their bottom lines,” Newhouse said.