A new House bill, H.R. 9535—the “Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act”—would grant amnesty to illegal aliens who meet specific farm labor requirements.
Introduced last month by Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, the bill has roughly 50 bipartisan co-sponsors. It rewrites existing qualifications for the H-2A program, the legal channel for foreign farm workers. Key changes include allowing year-round operations and streamlining applications within the bureaucracy.
The proposal also drops the “seasonal” requirement, replacing it with an apparently indefinite number of contracts capped at 350 days. Thompson calls this limit a worker perk—a built-in “two-week vacation.”
Buried in the same bill is a waiver that would effectively grant amnesty to immigrants illegally present in the U.S. as of May 31, 2026, who can show they worked farm labor for 5.75 hours per day and 180 days a year over two years.
In a mid-July interview with AgriTalk, Thompson stated: “This is not a pathway to citizenship. This is really a solution to address a tremendous problem in terms of illegal workers that are here in our country.” His plan: Workers would remain in agriculture and reapply for H-2A status after three years.
Thompson’s argument cites data from the Department of Labor showing that in 2025, farm producers advertised roughly 400,000 positions but received only 182 domestic applicants through the H-2A program. He claims American citizens are reluctant to take this labor due to its difficulty.
The bill requires proof of eligibility via an employer-written letter on request. No pay stubs, tax records, or independent verification are specified in the bill. Employers would not be prosecuted for unauthorized hiring based on this record and would be shielded from liability unless the document is later proven fraudulent—without a defined audit process.
This self-attestation model echoes the 1986 “Special Agricultural Worker” amnesty, which required only 90 days of farm work. That program had an estimated 400,000 eligible workers but drew nearly 1.3 million applications. About 750,000 of the legalized workers likely never completed the required labor.
A 1989 investigation described this practice as “one of the most extensive immigration frauds ever perpetrated against the United States Government.”
Once qualifying under the proposed changes, employers would be required to provide Department of Labor-inspected housing with wage deductions capped by a HUD-linked formula. The only oversight mechanism would review housing conditions, not fraud.
The bill now sits in the House Judiciary Committee, where Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) will decide its fate.
