The bipartisan Securing Agricultural Workforce Act would allow certain illegal immigrants working in agriculture to remain in the United States while expanding the H-2A visa program, drawing support from major farm groups and fierce opposition from immigration enforcement advocates.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A bipartisan agricultural labor proposal backed by more than 400 farm organizations is dividing Republicans, with critics accusing its GOP supporters of abandoning President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda and placing agribusiness interests ahead of American workers.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., introduced the Securing Agricultural Workforce Act, known as SAWA, on June 30. The legislation would create a pathway allowing certain illegal immigrants employed in agriculture to remain in the United States while restructuring and expanding the federal agricultural guest-worker system.
The measure has attracted more than 40 co-sponsors from both parties, but it has also opened a major rift among Republicans, according to Politico. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.S. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino and several immigration-restriction organizations have denounced the legislation as amnesty.
“No amnesty!” DeSantis wrote Monday. “Amnesty is NOT what people voted for in 2024!”
Bovino issued a similar warning Tuesday, accusing the Republican lawmakers supporting the bill of undermining Trump’s deportation mandate.
“These Republicans just stabbed Trump’s deportation promise in the back with an amnesty farm bill,” Bovino wrote on X. “They’re only gonna get the message one way. Vote every single one of them out in a massive wave, and replace them with real immigration hawks.”
Thompson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation. The White House declined to comment.
Agricultural organizations argue the legislation is necessary to prevent labor shortages from disrupting the nation’s food supply. The American Farm Bureau Federation, National Milk Producers Federation and Western Growers Association are among the groups supporting the proposal.
Thompson said in a June 30 announcement that more than 400 agricultural organizations had endorsed SAWA.
“There is no greater national security threat than disruptions to our food supply,” Thompson said. “The Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act of 2026 makes the practical, commonsense reforms required to prevent these disruptions by providing a workforce that meets agriculture’s needs—now and in the future.”
Campaign finance records indicate Thompson received more than $550,000 from agribusiness interests during the 2025-26 election cycle.
Opponents argue that the industry’s political influence is driving lawmakers to support policies rejected by Republican voters.
“I think the agricultural lobby is very powerful, but it’s a poor excuse to overturn what should be our nation’s immigration policy,” Republican Post Falls Mayor Randy Westlund said, according to Politico. “It’s a betrayal of the base of Republican voters who have no interest in amnesty whatsoever.”
Chris Chmielenski, president of the Immigration Accountability Project, questioned why Republican lawmakers would advance the legislation only months before an election that will determine which party controls Congress during the second half of Trump’s term.
“The timing is what’s most surprising,” Chmielenski told the DCNF. “We’re less than four months from deciding which party controls Congress for the second half of President Trump’s term, and there’s zero appetite for a mass amnesty among Republican voters. The only explanation is that the 48 Republicans who support the bill care more about their Ag donors than their own constituents.”
Chmielenski said the legislation would also hurt American agricultural workers by increasing the availability of lower-cost foreign labor.
“For starters, it expands the H-2A agricultural guest worker program to include year-round jobs in dairy, logging, and more,” he said. “It also caps annual adjustments to wages paid to guest workers, which will in turn reduce wages for American ag workers.”
The United States certified nearly 400,000 H-2A visas during fiscal year 2025. The program has traditionally been used for temporary or seasonal agricultural work, but SAWA would extend eligibility to additional year-round industries.
Critics have compared the proposal to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, signed by President Ronald Reagan. That law reportedly granted legal status to more than one million illegal agricultural workers by 1992.
“We’ve tried this before in 1986, and it was a disaster,” Chmielenski said. “The amnesty program was riddled with fraud, and the inadequate vetting resulted in one of the eventual 9/11 terrorists receiving amnesty.”
The Foundation for American Immigration Reform also announced its opposition, arguing that SAWA would encourage additional illegal immigration while restructuring the guest-worker program around the interests of industries seeking inexpensive labor.
“H.R. 9535, the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act, is nothing less than an amnesty for illegal alien workers that will encourage more illegal immigration,” FAIR government relations director Joe Chatham told the DCNF.
“As though that was not bad enough, the legislation would also fundamentally change our H-2A system by expanding the program and incentivizing even more industries to prop up cheap foreign labor instead of creating job opportunities for U.S. citizens and modernizing our workforce,” Chatham continued. “FAIR stands in strong opposition to this bill, and will continue to fight for reforms that put the interests of Americans first.”
The legislation’s prospects remain uncertain. Thompson introduced SAWA shortly after the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Labor determined that dairy operations could hire H-2A workers, a decision reported June 26 by the Western Livestock Journal.
Trump, however, said Tuesday that he had not yet reviewed the proposal. When Daily Caller White House correspondent Reagan Reese asked about SAWA during a press conference, the president said he was unaware of the bill and promised to “take a look at it.”
The House referred SAWA to the Judiciary Committee on June 30. The committee excluded it from a broader immigration package, according to a July 17 report.
Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told NOTUS that he could consider visa revisions “down the road” after the current package advances, leaving open the possibility that agricultural labor provisions could return later in the legislative process.
Thompson has continued defending his proposal despite the mounting criticism.
“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,” Thompson told NOTUS.
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