18. Department of Labor and Related Agencies · Major · Needs Congress

Cap and phase down the H-2A visa program

Not started

Printed page 611 18. Department of Labor and Related Agencies

“Cap and phase down the H-2A visa program. Congress should immediately cap this program at its current levels and establish a schedule for its gradual and predictable phasedown over the subsequent 10 to 20 years, producing the necessary incentives for the industry to invest in raising productivity.”

What has happened

Aug 27, 2026 Not started
Congress has not capped H-2A — the program has no numerical cap and none was created — and no phase-down schedule exists. The executive moved the other way: on 2025-10-02 DOL replaced the Adverse Effect Wage Rate methodology with one built on BLS survey data and split into skill-based tiers, with a housing adjustment, lowering the wage floor employers must pay H-2A workers; USCIS the same day made H-2A petitions easier to file early; and on 2025-07-02 DOL proposed rescinding the 2024 rule that had added worker protections to the program.
- DOL interim final rule: Adverse Effect Wage Rate Methodology for the Temporary Employment of H-2A Nonimmigrants in Non-Range Occupations, effective 2025-10-02
  Primary Executive branch Oct 2, 2025
- DOL proposed rule: Rescission of Final Rule — Improving Protections for Workers in Temporary Agricultural Employment in the United States
  Primary Executive branch Jul 2, 2025
- USCIS final rule: Facilitating Earlier Filing of Certain Electronically Submitted H-2A Petitions
  Primary Executive branch Oct 2, 2025

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

Recorded as not started with the contrary actions attached. The Mandate’s own rationale for the cap is that a cheap, uncapped H-2A supply removes the incentive to raise productivity; the AEWR rule cuts the wage floor, which points the opposite way.
Negative search (playbook 1.6). Federal Register full-text "H-2A", RULE and PRORULE, since 2025-01-20: 17 documents, none capping or phasing down the program. presidential-actions.ndjson searched for agricultur|farm|workforce|labor: no presidential action on agricultural visa levels. bills.ndjson: H.R. 2237, H.R. 3227, S. 4995 — all referred, none a cap. public-laws.ndjson (104 laws): nothing.
Chapter 18 also asks separately for AEWR reform; that ask is not in this batch and this item does not absorb it. The AEWR rule is cited here only as the contrary action.

Action: eliminate
Object: H-2A visa program
ID: 1686