This is a tangled situation, where California labor law, immigration law, the economics of food system resilience and the politics of grocery prices collide. United Farm Workers v. Department of Labor deals with only a small piece of the puzzle, but changes in one piece affect how (or if) the others can fit together in a coherent policy.
California farmers – facts on the ground
In 2020-2022 (the latest date for which national statistics are available), U.S. citizens made up roughly 39 percent of hired crop workers; another 19 percent were authorized immigrants and the remaining 42 percent had no work authorization. The 42 percenters are undocumented and very vulnerable to abuse.
According to a 2024 UC Davis report, California farmers employed roughly 850,000 to 900,000 unique, seasonal farmworkers annually. Mexican-born workers dominated the farm workforce. The 40,000 H-2A guest workers were 20 to 30 percent more productive than US workers and were tied to employers by contracts.
In 2025, the U.S. agricultural industry faced its largest labor shortage in nearly a decade, with an estimated 155,000 fewer workers as of August 2025. At a preliminary hearing on the lawsuit, a Trump administration attorney conceded “there aren’t enough Americans to take these jobs.”
The decline was reportedly also driven by heightened immigration enforcement. In June 2025, immigration enforcement hit rural communities, with raids at farms in California.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins’s espoused goal of having a 100 percent American work force in agriculture, has been called “delusional.” Americans don’t want to pick strawberries and tomatoes; farm jobs are hard, dangerous and poorly paid. Some commenters have gone so far as to speculate that “Big Ag” actually prefers to hire undocumented workers who can be exploited.
A dubious solution – pay H-2A workers less
The H-2A visa program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States for temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs when there is a shortage of willing, qualified and available domestic workers. There is currently no cap or limit on the total number of H-2A workers that can be brought into the U.S. every year.
Any employer using H-2A workers must have first tried to find Americans to fill these jobs. Further, employers must offer evidence that the employment of foreign nationals will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers similarly employed in the U.S.
That last requirement is at the heart of the UFW’s lawsuit.
On October 2, 2025, the DOL issued a final interim rule (IFR) that reduces H-2A visa holders minimum wages in four ways:
- establishing a two-tier classification system where most positions fall into “Skill Level I” with wages set at only the 17th percentile;
- permitting a housing deduction that can reduce wages by up to 30 percent;
- relying on survey data that does not cover farm establishments; and
- creating a “primary duty” test that depresses wages for complex work.
Dollars, cents and incentives
The 2026 minimum wage throughout most of California is $16.90 per hour. This is what agricultural employers must pay Americans to pick strawberries and tomatoes. The net effect is of the IFR is to cut wages for H-2A temporary or seasonal migrant workers by $3 to $7 per hour, depending on the state.
What rational employer would choose to pay $16.90 rather than $13.90 per hour for a U.S. worker who is arguably less productive and more transitory because not bound by a labor contract? As U.S. District Judge Kirk Sherriff recently asked counsel for the Trump administration, “Isn’t that just math?”
In its complaint, the UFW argues that the IFR violates the legal requirement to prevent adverse effects on U.S. worker wages. On a more technical point, the union also argues that the new DOL rule was issued improperly, without required public notice and comment. Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California has filed a congressional resolution to overturn the IFR on grounds that mirror those articulated in the UFW’s lawsuit.
Labor shortages and rising prices
READ MORE CALIFORNIA UNPAID WAGES LEGAL NEWS
If employers can be expected to act rationally, then so too can workers. Who, except those who have few other choices, would choose to come to the U.S. to do hard and dangerous work for less pay than before – especially under the threat of aggressive immigration enforcement? A labor shortage should be no surprise and with it, increasing food prices.
Finding a way out – carrots instead of sticks
Overturning the IFR may provide a partial way out of the dilemma. Another solution to the larger problem, which some describe as modern day slavery, might be federal legislation to make temporary migrant work more attractive by offering a pathway to citizenship
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