PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — The crackdown on illegal immigration is spotlighting a federal program that helps bring foreign farmworkers to the United States legally through the H-2A visa program, a way for people to work on farms temporarily in the country.
WPTV turned to the President of Roth Farms, Rick Roth, who said the pro is that people working the fields are here legally filling a big need, but that the con is that it’s getting more expensive to hire these workers and that demand has left fewer workers to go around.
"What limits us on our production is labor," Roth said. “Nobody wants to work as farmworkers harvesting crops in the United States.”
WATCH: WPTV Reporter Joel Lopez speaks to Roth Farms President Rick Roth on the impacts of H-2A visas
Roth said he turned to foreign workers with H-2A visas about four years ago.
"We grow about 2,000 acres of vegetable of which lettuce is probably 20%," Roth said. "That is all harvested by hand. You need hand labor to do it and that's why we're using the H-2A program."
The program cost Roth nearly $3 million this season, a record as he covers transportation and housing for 114 migrant workers.
He said every year the hourly rate increases. Add on the rising cost of rising of boxes, fuels and fertilizers, which has left him having to raise the raise of some produce.
"The ask would be to modify the H-2A program, to have it moved from the Department of Labor to the Department of Agriculture, make it user-friendly for agriculture, flatten out the increases," Roth said. "We want more workers through the legal process."
Data from the U.S. Department of State shows the number of H-2A visas has increased every year since 2019. In 2023, the U.S. Government issued roughly 310,000 visas for undocumented workers. That’s just a fraction of the 3.2 million people agents encountered that same year at U.S. Borders.
“Why aren’t there more immigrants that come through the H-2A visa?” asked WPTV's Joel Lopez to crew leader Juan Lara Leon.
“Because there aren’t enough visas for everyone," Leon said.
Leon said many farms aren't getting the number of workers they're requesting as demand has strained the number of available workers, and immigration crackdowns have taken a hit on farms that relied on undocumented farmworkers.
“People that haven’t been taken are choosing to leave because of fear of deportation,” Leon said.
Leon said the staff at Roth Farms have H-2A visas, and that they keep their documents on property in case immigration agents question their status.
"Hopefully President Trump, now that it's his term, can figure out how to bring more people through the program," Leon said.
In a 2020 survey, the National Agricultural Workers Organization found the U.S. had about 2.4 million farmworkers, and 44% were undocumented.
