Farmworkers' union fights to curb migrant H-2A visa expansion in Whatcom, Skagit

Amid the largest mass deportation in U.S. history, the Trump administration is looking for ways to maintain an agricultural workforce. One option is expanding the H-2A visa program, which is supposed to give farmers another legal way to hire workers in the face of a labor shortage — something the agricultural industry has reportedly faced for years.

However, it isn’t a popular option in Whatcom and Skagit counties. Here, the number of H-2A workers has decreased in the past decade, not increased, as most of the state has seen.

The reduction of H-2A workers in the two counties began after a fatality eight years ago at a blueberry farm in Sumas. This is likely due to strong union presence in the area, where farmworker activists have long claimed the H-2A program lacks wage, health and safety protections. Others in the farming community also attribute the drop-off to union activism, but claim that activism has demonized farms in the area that employ H-2A workers.

Rosalinda Guillén, a longtime farmworker and activist, has fought to protect farmworkers for decades. Federal actions since January have been “more intense than we thought,” Guillén said.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/08/08/farmworkers-union-fights-to-curb-migrant-h-2a-visa-expansion-in-whatcom-skagit/