H.R. 9535: Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act of 2026

Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act of 2026

This bill fundamentally alters U.S. immigration enforcement and labor protections. Under the guise of "streamlining" agricultural labor, the bill establishes sweeping amnesty provisions and expands the H-2A visa program to the direct detriment of American workers. It-

• Grants amnesty to illegal aliens present in the United States as of May 31, 2026, who meet minimal agricultural work history requirements (180 days over the last two years); 
  • Waives statutory bars to inadmissibility and deportability for these illegal aliens, wiping away prior lawbreaking including illegal entry without inspection, visa overstays, document fraud, and the 3- and 10-year unlawful presence bars;
  • Allows amnestied aliens to obtain H-2A visas;
• Grants amnesty to lawbreaking employers, protecting them from civil or criminal prosecution under Section 274A for previously hiring illegal aliens, so long as they cooperate with the alien’s amnesty application;
• Caps year-over-year adjustments to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) at a maximum 3.25% increase and freezing wages mid-contract, ensuring foreign labor remains artificially cheap;
• Expands the H-2A program into year-round industries, broadening the definition of "agricultural labor" to include sectors like meat and poultry slaughter, logging, aquaculture, and equine management, systematically displacing domestic labor in those fields;
• Expands H-2A certifications to up to three years, eliminating the requirement that employers annually test the domestic labor market;
• Enforces a mandatory 15-day deadline to adjudicate H-2A petitions, guaranteeing that overwhelmed adjudicators will rubber-stamp applications without thorough vetting; and
• Authorizes the State Department to waive in-person consular interviews for returning foreign workers and allowing staggered entry dates across a 180-day window on a single petition.