Challenging Employer Control within the H-2A and H-2B Visa Programs

Migrants holding H-2A and H-2B visas—contracted labor migrants—predominate in the new migration system that has emerged between Mexico and the United States. These migrants have been growing numerically in an era when net Mexico-U.S. migration has fallen to zero and undocumented migration is negative. These migrants are committed to contracts that require them to work for one employer, at a specified job, in a particular place, for a set duration of time, or risk loss of legal status and deportation. When visas were scarce, as they have been historically, this effectively gave employers monopoly over their contracted workers. This article describes the current system, particularly with respect to the U.S. labor market and the geography of both Mexico and the United States. With more employers now seeking H-2A and H-2B workers, the current moment may provide migrant workers with greater leverage to challenge the dominance of labor contractors and employers by moving among firms, industries, markets, and states from one contract to the next.