Migrant agricultural workers who come to the U.S. on an H-2A visa are supposed to have their pay housing, tools and transportation to and from the U.S and the work site paid for by their employers. But a recent investigation by The Denver Post found migrant workers across the U.S. routinely experience multiple types of abuse and exploitation while the government looks the other way.  

Where there is a need, there is greed 

Agricultural work is a hard, sweaty and back-breaking job. Most Americans simply won’t do it according to farmers in the U.S. So, they must rely on the annual influx of mainly Mexican migrant workers who come to the country on an H-2A visa to keep their farms running. But regular wage theft, unsanitary living conditions and unsafe migration routes are just some of the frequent issues exposed.  

David H. Estes, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia said: 

“The American dream is a powerful attraction for destitute and desperate people across the globe, and where there is need there is greed from those who will attempt to exploit those willing workers for their own obscene profits.” 

Farmers say without these workers, they would have to shut down. In 2023 the U.S. Department of Labor approved 378,000 H-2A visas. A number seven times higher than 9 years ago. But as the number of visas approved has grown, so has the list of violations and abuses migrant workers’ experience. And despite a litany of Labor Department findings, the state and federal government rarely bar violating companies from doing it all over again next year.  

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