Attorney General Bonta Opposes Trump Administration’s New Rule Cutting Wages for H-2A Temporary Farmworkers

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today led a coalition of 17 attorneys general in opposing the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) interim final rule that implements a significant reduction to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), effectively lowering the wages for workers employed under the H-2A program. This new rule abandons reliable farm-specific data, arbitrarily creates new lower-paying job categories, and deducts housing costs from the wages paid to H-2A workers. These changes harm the public’s interests and exacerbate the roots of farmworker poverty for both H-2A workers and domestic farmworkers alike. 

“As the son of parents who joined Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta to defend farmworkers, I’m driven by the same commitment to protect these often-exploited workers, including those in the H-2A program,” said Attorney General Bonta. “DOL’s new rule will take advantage of agricultural workers by quickly attempting to backfill a farming labor force that was largely weakened by the President’s very own immigration policies. California is one of the largest producers of agricultural products in the nation, and the workers who support that industry deserve to know that we have their backs.”

The H-2A program allows certain agricultural employers to bring in foreign temporary workers when there are insufficient domestic workers to fulfill necessary jobs. H-2A employers are responsible for providing housing and transportation, and to pay temporary workers a minimum wage, which is typically set by the AEWR.

This interim final rule is President Trump’s second expedited attempt to lower wages in the H-2A program. As it stands, the new rule will lower worker wages in multiple ways. First, it ignores historical farm-specific data and instead implements a new wage rate methodology based on a semiannual survey typically conducted with non-farm establishments. Second, it creates a two-tiered wage determination that cuts wages for “entry level” workers and unnecessarily increases the administrative burden on states. The new rule then reduces wages further by deducting money to help cover the cost of housing, which employers have been obligated to provide at no cost since 1987. The rule also creates an intentionally blurry “majority duties standard” which allows higher paying jobs to be categorized as field and livestock work, so long as those higher-paying duties are performed less than a majority of the time. Moreover, the new rule does all of this while ignoring the typical notice-and-comment process required by the Administrative Procedure Act. 

The effects of this new rule — issued on October 2, 2025 — will be felt throughout California and the nation. It causes farmworkers to be paid meaningfully less than the wages computed through the traditional wage rate methodology. With the new methodology and housing adjustment for foreign workers, the AEWR for “entry-level” H-2A workers will be as low as $13.45 and the rate for “experienced” H-2A workers will be as low as $15.71. In addition to lowering wages, the interim final rule acknowledges that the proposed changes will effectively transfer $2.46 billion from farmworkers’ wages to farm employers.  

In the comment letter, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition assert the rule:  

• Evades the notice-and-comment process of the Administrative Procedure Act without good cause. During the last attempt to lower the AEWR, the DOL abided by the timeframe permitted by the notice-and-comment process under the Administrative Procedure Act.
• Arbitrarily eliminates reliance on long-standing, farm-specific data to transfer worker wages into employers’ pockets.
• Erodes the wage position of laborers by creating a lower job category to excuse further cuts in pay. 
• Defies the purpose of the AEWR and undercuts the federal statute that mandates employers must provide temporary agricultural workers with housing. 
• Further lowers wages by creating an arbitrary “majority duties rule” for specialized labor. 
• Ignores historic violations in the H-2A program to quickly fill a workforce diminished by the administration’s immigration policies. 
• Results in farmworkers being paid less than or close to the federal poverty line, inflicting direct financial injuries to the States. 

Attorney General Bonta is committed to protecting agricultural workers and the rights of laborers who work to uplift California’s economy. Attorney General Bonta has supported regulations that would strengthen worker protection measures for H-2A agricultural workers and protect farmworkers from harmful pesticides. He also opposed a previous effort to roll back regulatory protections for temporary agricultural workers under the H-2A visa program. 

Attorney General Bonta leads the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington in filing this comment letter.