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Perdue says guest worker program is part of the immigration solution

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue says a federal guest worker program could be part of the solution to illegal immigration.

“I’m hoping that we can also at the same time have a legal guest worker program for our farms, ranches, and dairies across the country,” he says. “We are not going to be able to survive as we have without a work force going forward.”  

He says they are making progress with the Department of Labor’s proposed H-2A modernized rule.

“Department of Labor is providing rule making that will make it simpler,” he says. “It’s a more flexible, workable program. It’s taken longer than we had liked but we’ve been working with DOL for almost two years on that process.”

He says the administration is working with Guatemala to streamline the H-2A process with Guatemalan workers.

“They have people who would love to come here for 9 or 10 months and take advantage of our economy in agriculture and go back home with the freedom to come and go,” he says.

Perdue, who spoke at the NASDA meeting in New Mexico, says updated information can be found at farmers.gov.