The Trump administration violated the law when it tried to lower farmworkers’ pay rates in a seasonal visa program, a California federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Judge Kirk E. Sherriff found that a Labor Department rule pushing down the payscale for H-2A farmworkers was “arbitrary and capricious,” and failed to adhere to administrative law. Siding with the United Farm Workers union, he issued an order blocking the rule and forcing the administration to come up with a new methodology.

Sherriff wrote that the administration’s justification for lowering the pay rates was “substantively and procedurally defective.”

Like other visa programs, the H-2A program allows U.S. companies to legally employ foreign nationals on a temporary basis. It’s been the fastest-growing program of its kind in recent years as growers have come to rely on it for a steady stream of labor on farms.

But the foreign workers are not supposed to undercut U.S. workers, so the Labor Department sets minimum prevailing wage rates that employers must pay to keep a floor under local markets. Those are the rates the Trump administration moved to cut significantly last year in a boon to growers.

The UFW said the Trump rule had slashed many farmworkers’ wages by up to $7 per hour. In its own analysis of the rule, the administration estimated that the changes would “transfer” more than $17 billion from H-2A workers to employers over the course of a decade.

“The United Farm Workers union said the Trump rule had slashed many farmworkers’ wages by up to $7 per hour.”

Crisanto Serrano, a farmworker in Washington State and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in a statement through the union that growers are “happy to hire a new worker for less pay” ― and that the Trump administration was happy to help.

“More and more, the growers just want to hire H2-A workers, who they can keep trapped on their property, instead of us local workers, who live here and who pay taxes here and have decades of experience,” Serrano, one of 18 workers who joined as plaintiffs, said. “We don’t matter to the growers and to this president.”

In an analysis of the Trump rule, the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, projected that the lower pay rates for H-2A workers would have a huge effect on U.S. farmworkers, reducing their annual wages by up to $3 billion a year, or up to 9% of their total wages.

The authors noted that the Trump administration also removed an earlier requirement that employers pay H-2A workers’ entire housing costs while they work for them.

Teresa Romero, the UFW’s president, said in a statement Wednesday the administration needed to move quickly to produce new wage rates that would “protect the jobs and wages of local farm workers.”

“While this decision is a heartening step, we know attacks on farm worker wages will continue,” Romero said.

By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.