Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, IMMIGRATION NEWS—Interim final rule reducing farmworker wages strongly opposed by state attorneys general, (Dec 2, 2025)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

The interim final rule attempts to backfill a farming labor force largely weakened by the Trump administration’s immigration policies, the attorneys general argue.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a coalition of 16 other attorneys general opposed in a letter a Department of Labor (DOL) interim final rule issued October 2, 2025, implementing a significant reduction to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), lowering the wages for H-2A workers. The attorneys general argued the wage reductions harm the public’s interests and exacerbate the roots of farmworker poverty for domestic farmworkers and H-2A workers alike.

Effects of interim final rule. Under the H-2A program, certain agricultural employers may bring in temporary workers from other countries when there are insufficient domestic workers to fill necessary jobs. The employers are responsible for providing housing and transportation and for paying a minimum wage that is typically set by the AEWR.

The attorneys general argue in their letter that the new rule: (1) ignores historical farm-specific data and instead implements a new wage rate methodology based on a survey typically conducted with non-farm establishments; (2) creates a two-tiered wage determination that cuts wages for “entry level” workers and unnecessarily increases the administrative burden on states; (3) reduces wages further by deducting money to help cover the cost of housing, which employers have been required to provide at no cost since 1987; (4) creates an intentionally blurry “majority duties standard,” allowing higher paying jobs to be categorized as field and livestock work, so long as the higher-paying duties are performed less than a majority of the time; (5) ignores without good cause the typical notice-and-comment process required by the Administrative Procedure Act; and (6) ignores historic violations in the H-2A program related to housing and transportation obligations in order to quickly backfill a workforce diminished by the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Farmworker poverty. As a result of the new wage computation methodology and housing adjustment 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 will effectively transfer $2.46 billion from farmworkers’ wages to farm employers, the attorneys general argue. They argue that the interim final rule results in farmworkers being paid less than or close to the federal poverty line, inflicting direct financial injuries to the states, with reduced wages lowering state income tax and state tax revenues for essential programs, as well as farmworkers increasingly needing to rely on state and local services, benefits for workers that are funded by states, and state-funded programs for low-income students.

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