“To transfer the administration of the H2A program from the Secretary of Labor to the Secretary of Agriculture, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section transfers responsibility for issuing labor certifications under the H-2A temporary agricultural worker program from the Secretary of Labor to the Secretary of Agriculture (i.e., changing the certification authority in INA §218(a)(1)) and updates H-2A petition approval authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security (from the Attorney General). (As background, the H-2A program authorizes U.S. agricultural employers to hire foreign nationals for temporary or seasonal crop work upon certification that insufficient qualified U.S. workers are available and that wages and conditions for similarly employed U.S. workers will not be adversely affected.) The amendments take effect 60 days after enactment, at which point the Secretary of Labor must transfer all necessary personnel, funding, and materials to the Secretary of Agriculture to enable the transfer.