3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Aug 27
Summary
A California federal judge ruled the Trump administration unlawfully cut H-2A farmworker wages by about $7 to $5 an hour and ordered the Labor Department to set new lawful rates quickly.
The 28-page order said the department imposed the rule last fall without a public comment period, after the administration argued cheaper foreign labor was needed to ease farm labor shortages tied to its immigration crackdown.
Judge Kirk E. Sherriff did not immediately cancel the lower rates, but told the department to notify employers they may owe back wages to affected workers.
The administration had said the rule would save farmers $24 billion over a decade; in California, estimated H-2A pay fell to $16.45 from $19.97, and in Georgia to $12.27 from $16.08.
The case, brought by United Farm Workers and U.S. farmworkers, lands as H-2A use keeps rising, with about 398,200 positions certified in fiscal 2025.