The H-2A visa program has long been advertised as a way to ensure that farmers can access enough workers without hiring people who are not engaged in documents. But for some migrants workers seeking more paid work in America, their seasonal concerts have turned into a nightmare.
As revealed the recent story propublica“Some workers were abducted and threatened by deportation when complaining about dangerous working conditions, Revealed a federal investigation. In the worst cases, others were napped either raped either even died. It became so bad that in one of the largest criminal cases H-2A federal judge described the abuse of these workers as a form of modern slavery. And without additional changes in the H-2A program, experts reported propublica that foreign farm workers can continue to harm.
When the United States faces a sharp deficit of household workers, and since the Trump administration has deported more undocumented immigrants, experts have stated propublica that the H-2A visas will certainly remain in high demand. One agricultural economist predicts that by 2030 there may be a need for up to 500,000 workers H-2A-approximately in the triple, which is requested in 2016, in the first year President Donald Trump was elected.
Experts, lawyers and supporters said propublica that if not done to protect workers, cases of abuse and operation may also increase. They offered many ways to make the H-2A program safer and more humane.
1. Mount the current rules better
The H-2A program must provide a fair salary, safe working conditions and free housing and transportation for workers. But the experts said the insufficient control undermined the protection promised by the visa owners.
“The expectations are very clear,” said Cezar Escalante, a professor at the Georgian University. “Even if we are very clear in the rules, the government was unable to fulfill the implementation.”
The US Department of Labor is only investigating a tiny part of farm employers. The number of investigations is not enough because of the lack of potential disorders. In a Government Report Accounting is specified The fact that 84% of the investigations conducted by federal regulators found at least one violation of the rules aimed at protecting the H-2A workers. Proponents see that the high level of violation as an indicator that the regulators are absent even more abuse in the fields.
Work experts believe that limited performance is largely related to limited resources. Last year, one of the main law enforcement agencies of the H-2A rules, a salary and an hour of work, had one of the lowest levels of investigators since the H-2A program in the 1980s, in the 1980s, Rutgers University researchers found researchers. Daniel Costa, Prosecutor and Immigration Director with the Analytical Center of the Institute of Economic Policy, urged Congress to increase the department’s financing to allow its regulators to conduct more active investigations. Without grabbing this, Costa warned, the H-2A program will still be a “abuse”.
If Trump Administration Proposed budget received approvedThis will make even more cutting up to the division and an hour. This can mean less H-2A investigations moving forward.
The press -secretary of the Labor Division did not respond to PROPBLICA’s request about his completion practice and the consequences of the budget proposal.
2. Raise Bids for Farmers
There were calls not only to bring farmers more to justice for the H-2A violations, but also to reward those who are in accordance with the labor legislation.
Propaga groups such as Centro de Los derechos del Migrante and United Farm Workers have called for farmers to be responsible for the illegal practice of third recruiters they hire. Right now, there is A bill proposed by a two -party legislators This will require farmers to stop working with recruiters who have accused the workers illegal fee for receiving the H-2A visa. And that would give regulators the possibility of exquisite farmers for what they did not.
Since only a tiny part of employers who hire H-2A workers face serious consequences, human rights organizations also urge regulators to suspend or ban more employers from the H-2A program. They say that this is especially important for employers who advocate the violation of the workers’ rights.
Philip Martin, Professor of Agriculture and Resources at the University of California, Davis, believes that farmers should be rewarded for the rules. He said that the largest employers of H-2A workers are not usually responsible for the worst violations. He believes that the regulators must create a TSA Precheck style program that will allow the law-abiding employer to go through the process of receiving the approval for H-2A workers with less bureaucratic obstacles. And this can allow overloaded regulators to focus on the most pressing problems.
3. Get corporations aboard abuse
There is a growing movement focused on the idea that consumer power can be used to stop abuse in agriculture.
After many years of higher remuneration and protection against individual farmers and buyers, the coalition of Immokalee employees-organizations on combating trafficking in human beings, which revealed the first examples of abuse in a massive federal case-offered program of a fair food program in 2010. As part of the program, corporate buyers, such as supermarkets and fast food, sign legal agreements on the purchase of ethically weakened crops.
Buyers -participants agree to buy products from farms that adhere to a tough set of work protection for workers, let the employees report their rights CIW and allow independent auditors to investigate complaints from their fields. Buyers also agree to pay this manufacturer a small award that is passed on to their employees. If extreme abuse, such as forced labor, buyers are required to suspend orders for the product until the problems are found on these farms.
Some of the largest supermarkets of America (Walmart, Whole Foods) and fast food (McDonald’s, Burger King) participate in the fair food program. Initially, the participation of corporations was limited by a selected set of cultures such as tomatoes. Some of their commitments have since grown to include more cultures. Other large buyers such as Kroger, Publix and Wendy’s did not participate in the program. Companies representatives did not respond to PROPBLICA’s request. Buyers who did not participate in the program stated that the responsibility of their suppliers was responsible for the employees to be fair.
According to independent auditors, the fair food program defended the rights of thousands of H-2A workers, but this is still less than a tenth of more than 300,000 H-2A workers in the US, CIW reports, the more buyers and manufacturers are taking the program, the more likely that the H-2A workers can be prevented.
Susan Marquis, Professor of the Public and International Affairs School of Princeton, said that other ideas offered by experts could help reduce the damage faced in the fields. But they do not go as far as the fair food program, stopping the types of violations that are regularly occurred in the H-2A program.
“It is very clear, supported by the data that nothing works to complete forced labor except the fair food program or some other variation of social responsibility caused by employees,” said Marquis.
