Trump’s new H-2A wage rule will radically cut the wages of all farmworkers - and that appears to be the administration's explicit intention: New estimates from @benzipperer.org & me at @epi.org show farmworkers stand to lose $4.4 to $5.4 billion annually under DOL’s updated Adverse Effect Wage Rate

Workers in Merced County, CA are harvesting sweet potatoes. There's so much work at this time of year that there are multiple shifts. These workers start at 4 a.m. when it's still dark. Lamps hung on the tractor give them enough light to sort the potatoes by size into boxes. #WeFeedYou

Bernie Sanders, speaking Saturday night: www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/eugene-deb...

Data analysis from @bloomberg.com assesses the impact of current and future H-1B visa reforms on foreign workers with MBAs - finding that 70% of MBAs are hired at the two lowest wage levels, and that "prioritizing higher-paid jobs could assure H-1B status for many MBA grads":

Quick summary of my comments: The H-1B program needs better rules - including an updated prevailing wage rule, better allocation system, and a requirement that employers recruit US workers - plus real enforcement from the Labor Department, which will require additional staffing and funding for DOL:

As @ddayen.bsky.social and now the @washingtonpost.com have reported - the Trump administration has admitted their immigration enforcement efforts will lead to a spike in food prices. Their solution? Cut wages for farmworkers, already some of the lowest paid workers in the country

I want to do a little breakdown of this investigation I published today for @prismreports.org about gender-based violence in the H-2A agricultural visa program.

Thank you CA Department of Public Health for recommending that people wear an N95 mask during a significant Covid surge:

"The H-1B visa program is deeply flawed. But Trump's new $100,000 fee on employers won’t fix it," says EPI's @dcosta.bsky.social. There are much better ways to fix the H-1B program and protect workers. Learn more in Costa's @msnbc.com op-ed: www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Trump's new H-1B fee of $100K is a haphazard and not-well-targeted way to reform a visa program that is deeply flawed. To fix it, new rules are needed with labor enforcement to ensure fair conditions & pay for migrant & US workers. Here's @epi.org's Policy Watch explainer on the fee and its impact:

The amount collected from the new $100K H-1B fee will be $6.5 billion, not $14bn. The fee will be applicable to H-1B petitions for new employment after Sept 21 and for less than half of new H-1Bs, ie those who were not already in the US. In 2024, 46% of the 141,000 new H-1Bs were outside of the US.

Raids & indiscriminate immigration enforcement are disrupting farm labor & America’s food system This Thursday, EPI's @dcosta.bsky.social will speak at an @investigatemidwest.bsky.social panel on raids, reform, & the future of farm labor 9/18 @1pm ET. Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/immigratio...

As I wrote about for @motherjones.com, people are already crossing state lines to get the Covid vaccine—which may become more common if the CDC vaccine advisory committee recommends limiting them this week. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Raids & indiscriminate immigration enforcement are disrupting farm labor & America’s food system. Next week, EPI's @dcosta.bsky.social will speak at a @investigatemidwest.bsky.social panel on raids, reform, & the future of farm labor. Thurs, 9/18. Register here: www.eventbrite.com/e/immigratio...

A not-so-happy Labor Day for farmworkers, thanks to the Trump administration's latest move to end the USDA survey of farm employers. The only reason to do this is to lower wages for both migrant farmworkers and U.S. farmworkers - who are already some of the-lowest paid workers in the country:

David Bacon's interview with Lelo Juarez, a farmworker who was imprisoned by ICE - and likely targeted because of his union organizing and advocacy and criticism of the H-2A visa program:

Completely unqualified hack. The Trump administration is an affirmative action speak for mediocre white guys. It's kind of a reverse-DEI.

California has some of the better state labor standards enforcement agencies in the US, but even there, agencies are understaffed: A recent audit found Cal/OSHA had an overall staff vacancy rate of 32%, or 289 unfilled positions, last year: calmatters.org/politics/202...

In 2020, Arundhati Roy wrote a gorgeous, prescient essay called “The Pandemic is a Portal”. In this piece, I discuss who actually walked through it: the COVID conscious community, and why I’m proud to be a part of it. www.thegauntlet.news/p/the-pandem...

Florida is committing "enforced disappearance," a very serious violation of international human rights law. www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i... www.ohchr.org/en/special-p...

The public can't yet wrap their brain around the level of intrusion in their lives and the suffering that will be caused for millions as a result of ICE becoming the highest-funded law enforcement agency in the government:

[email protected]'s new report has estimates on the job losses that will be caused by Trump's deportations - including state by state estimates and for the construction and child care industries:

EPI's @dcosta.bsky.social was featured on @wbur.org's‬ "On Point" talking about America's reliance on migrant farm workers. Listen here: www.wbur.org/onpoint/2025...

My colleague @benzipperer.org estimates if Trump meets deportation targets of 1 million per year, it'll lead to massive job losses: 6 million total, 44% of them jobs belonging to US-born workers. If Trump gets $160 billion in new enforcement money, he might pull it off. www.epi.org/blog/the-rep...

Republican reconciliation bill will nearly triple funding for ICE, increase the detention budget from $3.4 billion to *$45* billion - giving Trump a total of $185 billion to turn the US into a police state. And there's ZERO new funds for protecting workers:

It will take a police state to remove 14 million US residents, and we're well on our way to getting there, and it's what Trump wants - at least for Democratic led states. If the reconciliation bill becomes law, the money allocated for immigration enforcement could mean there's no turning back:

I spoke with mask bloc organizers about how they prepared for the impact of tariffs on masks that they hand out to their communities for free at @motherjones.com. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

When Huerta says “We are a power” He means the farmworker, the janitor, the nurse, the home care provider. The workers. And he’s right. You can’t detain a movement. #FreeDavidHuerta #FreeThemAll

Been saying this for weeks. In order to build a mass deportation machine to round up and deport 4% of the entire goddamn population, you must first build the police state.

ICE and other feds are dressed and armed like they’re in a war zone when going after migrant workers. Cosplaying with heavy artillery. Republicans are on the verge of *tripling* the budget for these people and quadrupling their prison budget. Scenes like these will occur much more frequently.

Immigration enforcement is and has always been anti-worker and anti-union - a tool for bosses to use against workers who might dare to stand up for their rights and demand that they be treated and paid fairly:

As NB.1.8.1 spreads, there’s only one thing spreading faster: misinformation. Here, I run down 5 of the most common errors I see circulating about COVID and encourage people to integrate airborne disease mitigation into their lives holistically. www.thegauntlet.news/p/common-mis...

The House Republican budget bill gives Trump $185 billion to carry out his extreme mass deportation agenda—while providing NO new funding for federal agencies that protect workers. Immigration enforcement would have 🚨80x🚨more money than labor standards enforcement: www.epi.org/blog/house-r...

The budget reconciliation bill from Congressional Republicans will increase immigration enforcement funding to unimaginable levels - it is currently funded at $30 billion for 2025 - the reconciliation bill would add $143 billion, giving Trump $173 billion to detain, deport, and terrorize immigrants:

Roughly 5.6 million people have temporary immigration protections like TPS in the US - accounting for 40% of the unauthorized immigrant population. Having these protections + a work permit can mean the difference between having rights on the job or being vulnerable to the worst abuses by employers:

Corporations are bringing thousands of foreign workers to the US under the H-2A visa program. But in the H-2A program, "[the] employer essentially owns and controls [the worker's] immigration status, which has led to many cases of forced labor and human trafficking," says EPI's @dcosta.bsky.social:

Huge thanks to #AshKalra for championing AB 1362! Stronger rules for labor recruiters are urgently needed to stop trafficking in CA — and your voice is making a difference.

Contrary to misinformation from Trump, Musk & others, immigrants play a key role in strengthening Social Security’s finances . . . and the Admin's plans to drastically cut immigration & increase deportations would significantly worsen them. More here: www.cbpp.org/blog/immigra...

Today is tax day 🤓 Did you know that undocumented immigrant workers pay $100 billion/yr in taxes? This money goes toward social safety net programs like Social Security & Medicare—programs they can't even benefit from. Learn more in @dcosta.bsky.social's new FAQ: www.epi.org/publication/...

Watch a discussion on labor, right-wing "populism" & employment-based immigration w/ Shannon Lederer, @aflcio.org's Director of Immigration Policy, Daniel Costa, @epi.org's Director of Immigration Law & Policy Research, & @mrsethharris.bsky.social in this PAW blogcast: poweratwork.us/labor-right-...

Last week, ICE agents violently removed farmworker organizer and advocate Alfredo Juarez from his car while dropping his partner off at work. He was likely targeted because of his work for farmworkers’ basic rights, such as overtime pay & protections from extreme heat. www.epi.org/blog/ice-und...

In the last week of the Biden administration, the Border Patrol conducts a days-long operation, arresting 78 and rounding up migrant workers in the CA Central Valley - where a quarter of the nation's food is grown - and in a city that's 200 miles away from the border:

For a summary of what's wrong with the H-1B visa program and how to fix it - so that it's fair to both migrant and US workers - see our op-ed in Jacobin (with Ron Hira and Hal Salzman). It's directed at Biden but Trump could implement the same reforms without Congress, using his executive authority

People with Temporary Protected Status are hunger striking to bring attention to their ask for Biden to extend TPS before leaving office. Renewing TPS to protect 1.1 million migrants should be Biden's top priority on immigration - not issuing rules on H-visas and to restrict asylum.

Trump policies on labor & immigration will hurt workers & make them more precarious - regardless of immigration status. People like JD Vance say deportations will improve wages but it's a lie and deportations are not substitute for policies that actually help workers, like raising the minimum wage.

In 2021, COVID was shown to be fully airborne. Yet for years, hospitals have failed to upgrade infection control measures. Bodies like the WHO and CDC are leaving HCW and patients in danger by failing to match recommendations to the science. My latest: www.thegauntlet.news/p/cdc-infect...

We now have a plausible explanation for why Kamala Harris wouldn't publicly defend FTC head Lina Khan - Khan was investigating Uber, the company where Harris’s brother-in-law is senior vice president and chief legal officer, while he advised the campaign:

"a patchwork of state laws means sheriffs in some blue states legally can’t cooperate with ICE, while those in some red states must." States/cities can refuse to cooperate with ICE but federal $ for law enforcement can be withheld; Trump will do that to test the resolve of sanctuary jurisdictions.

Latest #JOLTS data out this morning continues to show labor market strength. Job openings ticked up slightly in October and has normalized considerably over the last two and a half years since its peak in March 2022.

The pseudo-populist so-called "new" right scapegoats immigrants for problems in the economy - while ignoring how employers take advantage of immigration status - and ignoring pro-worker policies that would actually raise wages and improve labor standards: