U.S. Farmworker Protection Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7541 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7541

To protect United States workers by creating annual restrictions on the 
                     H-2A temporary worker program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 12, 2026

   Ms. Jayapal (for herself, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Mr. 
 Castro of Texas, Mr. Casar, Ms. Chu, Ms. Simon, Mr. Thanedar, and Mr. 
   Doggett) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To protect United States workers by creating annual restrictions on the 
                     H-2A temporary worker program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``U.S. Farmworker Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the H-2A program, as created by section 218 of the 
        Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1188), has 
        experienced unprecedented growth in recent years;
            (2) with the H-2A program having 384,865 certified jobs in 
        fiscal year 2024, an increase of 40 percent compared to fiscal 
        year 2020 (when there were 275,430 certified jobs), an increase 
        of 71 percent compared to fiscal year 2017 (when there were 
        224,965 certified jobs), and an almost 5-time increase compared 
        to fiscal year 2008 (when there were 82,099 certified jobs); 
        and
            (3) the unlimited growth of the H-2A program threatens to 
        displace United States farmworkers and depress the wages and 
        working conditions of United States farmworkers, including 
        those who harvest crops, drive trucks, and operate equipment.

SEC. 3. CREATING ANNUAL RESTRICTIONS ON THE H-2A PROGRAM.

    (a) Annual Restriction Established.--Section 218(a) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1188(a)) is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
            ``(3) The Secretary of Labor may not certify petitions 
        covering more than 400,000 positions for a fiscal year. For 
        purposes of this paragraph, any position that the petitioner, 
        in the petition, specifies will be filled by a worker who is 
        represented by a bargaining representative shall not be counted 
        towards the limit under this paragraph.''.
    (b) Definition of ``Bargaining Representative''.--Section 218(i) of 
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1188(i)) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) The term `bargaining representative' means a labor 
        organization (as such term is defined in section 2 of the 
        National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 152)) that--
                    ``(A) represents agricultural employees in their 
                employment relations with agricultural employers; and
                    ``(B) has filed an LM-2, LM-3, or LM-4 form (or any 
                successor form) with the Secretary of Labor and has a 
                collective bargaining agreement covering agricultural 
                employees.''.
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