H-2A Under New Administration Pt 1

H-2A Under New Administration Pt 1

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. H-2A visa guestworkers on Washington farms aren't just from Mexico any more. WAFLA is working with the governments of El Salvador and Guatemala, among others, to bring in help for farmers.

WAFLA director Dan Fazio says he's had no immigration problems since the Trump Administration has been in place ...

DAN FAZIO ... "It think it's just about the same. I think all that talk about the new Administration being anti-immigrant and anti-guest-worker program is whole cloth really. It's really not proving to be the case. As a matter of fact, they really want to have legal immigration.

They're just opposed to undocumented immigration, is their big push. So, I think the stories that you see that the problem is not experiencing at all."

And, Fazio says they aren't expecting any immigration problems with the new countries ...

DAN FAZIO ... "We very much expect that we're going to have a zero-percent rate of workers that don't complete the contract. They've got very good ties with their country and that was a principle concern on the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador that they did not want people coming from a very poor country and coming up here and not returning at the end of their contract. And, by working with the cooperative, where the workers have very strong ties with to their village, we can alleviate that legitimate concern on the part of the U.S. Embassy."

Fazio says there has been a learning curve, but everything is going smoothly so far.

We'll have more on the challenges WAFLA deals with tomorrow.

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