US House Members Reintroduce Farm Work Immigration Reform Bill

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers reintroduced legislation that would provide temporary immigration status for certain agricultural workers to help alleviate labor shortages in the farming sector.

The so-called Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which passed the House in 2021 before stalling in Senate, would streamline the process of getting a temporary visa for farm work and require electronic employment verification.

“In the past few years, we’ve seen labor shortages contribute to high food prices,” said Representative Zoe Lofgren, who sponsors the bill, in a statement. “If it wasn’t obvious before, the pandemic made clear that our country’s agricultural workforce ...