Some Republicans push more visas despite hard line on immigration

WASHINGTON — Even as the Trump administration pursues a hard-line approach to enforcing immigration law, some congressional Republicans acknowledge the need to expand immigration opportunities for workers in specialized sectors such as agriculture.

As industries that depend on temporary workers like agriculture and tourism say they need greater latitude to hire immigrant workers to address labor shortages, some GOP lawmakers have sought to qualify their party’s tough-on-immigration approach with an exception to employ noncitizens in those sectors legally.

That became apparent last month during the House Appropriations Committee’s markup of the fiscal 2026 Homeland Security spending bill. Republicans adopted an en banc amendment that would expand opportunities for employers to hire immigrants for certain temporary work, including the agricultural, tourism and circus industries.

The amendment, adopted by voice vote, was jointly introduced by Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., with bipartisan support from Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., and Henry Cuellar, D-Texas.

Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., chair of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, acknowledged the need to hire immigrants in some sectors as a component of immigration reform.

“How amazing would it be if this administration led an immigration reform,” Amodei said.

“Nobody’s not open to facts, so tell me those facts, whether it’s agriculture, whether it’s hospitality industry, whether it’s construction, whether it’s, you name it,” Amodei said. “And so, it’s like, let’s have a factual conversation now.”

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also acknowledged the need to include workers in certain sectors in any immigration reform.

He said the federal government has made it “very difficult for farmers to even hire people, whether it’s the wage rate or the requirements of housing, all these things.

“Let’s start fixing the existing programs we have,” he said.

Still, he acknowledged that lawmakers had not focused on that. Asked whether he expects it to happen in the future, Scott replied, “I hope so.”

Amodei noted that the Trump administration recently adopted a policy to lay off on immigration raids in industries like agriculture and hospitality. That policy, however, was rescinded after criticism from his conservative base.

“The most frustrating thing about immigration reform is the pieces are there,” he said. “You don’t have to commit political suicide to put those pieces together.”

The amendment adopted by the House Appropriations Committee has many components that would expand the ability of employers to hire immigrant laborers in certain temporary industries. It would allow employers an exemption from the cap to hire workers on H-2B visas, expand the period for H-2A agricultural visas for a full year and create a new category of P visas to hire immigrants for mobile entertainment like carnivals and circuses.

Amodei said approval of that amendment sparked conversations about how to ensure an adequate workforce for industries like agriculture and tourism, as well as the circus industry.

Harris, Amodei said, was set to speak with House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to address issues such as whether the appropriations committee or the authorizing committee would have jurisdiction over expanding visas, including H-2A, H2-B and the new category of P visas.

Amodei lamented the House Judiciary Committee not taking the lead on the issue, which he indicated has forced his subcommittee’s hand.

“The frustrating thing is — I have no disrespect at all,” Amodei said. “I have nothing but respect for it. This is your jurisdiction, but answering this issue with ‘no.’ And it’s like, well, is your mousetrap better? Trot your mousetrap out here. Come on. That’s the process. It’s the legislative branch.”

‘Security, then reform’

Some Republicans and experts with hardline approaches said they saw opportunities for expanding visas, as long as other matters in immigration are also addressed.

Kenneth Cuccinelli, a top official with the Homeland Security Department during the first Trump administration, said expanding opportunities to hire immigrants in certain industries would be beneficial, provided that deportation efforts continue. He’s now a senior fellow for immigration and homeland security at the conservative Center for Renewing America.

“I think that they first have to get smooth, effective deportation processes at large scale in place,” Cuccinelli said. “It goes with the security first, and then reform, but as part of a broader reform package that focuses on employment, instead of, say, chain migration and getting rid of the diversity lottery, that would be an improvement.”

Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement, said he would expect interest in expanding employment opportunities for immigrants in certain sectors that depend on H-2A and H-2B visas. But he drew a distinction between that and a more generalized approach.

H-2A visas are for temporary agriculture workers, while H-2B are for temporary non-agricultural workers. Currently, there is no annual cap for H-2A visas, but Congress has set the H-2B cap at 66,000 per fiscal year.

“I think as a whole, any sort of pathway to citizenship would be not looked upon favorably by many members of the Republican Party,” Guest said. “But I do think as you’re looking at ways in which we can offer individuals the ability who are properly vetted to come in the country and work in some of our very vital industries, such as agriculture, I do think that there would be widespread bipartisan support for a program along those lines.”

H-2A visas

From fiscal 2018 through fiscal 2023, the number of approved H-2A jobs and visas increased by more than 50 percent, with the State Department issuing nearly 310,000 H-2A visas in fiscal 2023, according to the Government Accountability Office.

David J. Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, said either expanding these caps or otherwise being able to hire more immigrant workers is a “big priority” for the industries that use these visas.

“They want to be able to be assured that they’ll get a visa at the end of the process,” Bier said, “And that’s, right now, the biggest uncertainty with H-2B. You can go through the whole process and the cap is used up, and you don’t get anything out of it.”

Bier said employers are concerned about cost escalation with continuous rules changes for H-2A visas in agriculture, citing changing rules under the Biden administration. Immigrant workers make up 15 percent to 20 percent of the agricultural labor force, he said.

The biggest growth area for H-2A agricultural visas, Bier said, would be expanding the duration of the visa to make them year-round. For H-2B visas, Bier said that would be expanding the cap, which he said is far below demand.

Employers’ efforts to lobby for changes is “quite minimal,” Bier said, because of the political prospects under the Trump administration.

“There’s just so much internal division within the Republican Party on the topic,” Bier said. “There are a lot of Republicans who are like, ‘Sure, hire people on visas.’ But there are also a lot who just think, ‘Well, you should only ever hire an American.’ You know, that’s more where the White House is on it, although there’s some division within the administration on the topic.”

Hesitations

Many Republicans were cautious about the idea of opening up more opportunities to hire immigrants legally to work in certain sectors amid a strong focus on mass deportation.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, was dismissive when asked whether he’d like to expand opportunities to hire immigrant workers in certain sectors.

“Not really, not that I think of off the top of my head,” Hawley said. “I think we want to incentivize employers to hire more Americans. We want them to hire them on higher wages.”

Asked whether there were any discussions among lawmakers about expanding employment opportunities for immigrants, he joked: “Probably, but they wouldn’t include me.”

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, a member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement. said “nope” categorically when asked whether he sees any opportunities to expand legal immigration.

“We’ve suffered for four years from open borders, millions of people coming across the border illegally, ravaging our communities, not just from the drugs and the crime, but from a massive influx of what amounts to cheap labor and drives down wages for working-class Americans,” Gill said. “I don’t think they’re in the appetite to expand that, certainly not on the illegal side, and not on the legal side either.”

Immigration raids took place earlier this month in Southern California at two marijuana farms that hired undocumented workers, resulting in confrontation between migrant workers and federal immigration officers.

The U.S. government said it arrested more than 360 people, including migrants with criminal records. The Department of Homeland Security initially said 10 immigrant children were found at the farms, and later increased that number to 14.

Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., chair of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Accountability, said an “implementation period” for Trump’s plan to deport migrants in the United States illegally must be complete before discussion could begin on expanding legal pathways for immigrants.

“For years, we’ve talked about securing the border before those conversations happen, so I think we are still premature until we get a secure border,” Brecheen said.