Farm workers are going to America without breaking the law

Donald Trump is expected to target undocumented immigrants, most of whom come from Central America, as soon as he takes office next week. What is less known is that some immigrants from those same countries have a legal way to work on American farms for a limited period of time.

Farm worker Sandra Noemi Buku Saaz is happy.

She recently returned from Guatemala, Central America, where she was picking strawberries in California.

“They paid us $19 (£15.60) an hour,” says Sandra. “We were told to pick seven boxes an hour, and if we picked more boxes, we were paid a little extra.

“It’s a lot different from the pay I get in Guatemala, which is about $10 a day when I work there.”

Sandra is one of about 5,000 Guatemalans who come to the United States legally each year to work, thanks to US government visa scheme For temporary agricultural workers from overseas, known as H-2A.

This allows American farms that cannot find enough locals to work to bring in employees from abroad. Foreign workers can stay for 12 months, after which they must return to their home country.

For people like Sandra, this is a chance to move on in life and help their families by sending some of the money they earn back. There are now about 30 recruitment companies in Guatemala that are registered with the Guatemalan government to help people find temporary work in the US through the H-2A visa.

It’s a cold, grey, windy day in southern Guatemala when Sanda proudly shows off the plot of land she rents in a place called Las Tres Cruces, in the hills near a town where she lives with her family. Is called Santiago Sacatepéquez.

She and her relatives grow corn, lettuce, beans and spinach for their food. And if enough goods are left, they sell them in the local market. Sandra’s dream is to save enough money to buy some land so that she doesn’t have to rent it.

But first she must pay off the rest of the debt she and her sister have accrued to themselves after becoming victims of fraud when trying to obtain visas to the United States for the first time.

“We paid someone $2,000 a person because we wanted to work in America,” she says. “My sister and I thought we needed to do this so we could move forward and make our dreams come true.” So, we got a loan to get the money, but sadly it was all a scam, and they took our money.”

It is common for fraudsters in Guatemala to play on people’s desperation to get to the US and trick them into handing over money.

Cesia Ochoa is the executive director of the Guatemalan branch of a legitimate recruitment company called Cirto. A business that also has offices in the US and Mexico, it is one of 30 or so officially registered in Guatemala to offer H-2A visas.

“Part of our motivation for opening an office in Guatemala was to help locals avoid scams,” she says.

When Sandra went to America through Cirto, she did not have to pay any fees. Instead, the company is paid by agricultural businesses looking for temporary workers in the US.

Ms Ochoa explains: “For us, it’s really important that we make a good connection between businesses and workers and that the wages and contracts they are offering are real.”

While the H-2A visa allows Guatemalans to find temporary agricultural work in the US legally, it is estimated that there are more than 675,000 people there. Undocumented Guatemalans in the US, According to the Pew Research Center think tank.

and 200,000 more It was found that in the 12 months up to September last year, he had tried to enter the US without valid documentation. This is the third largest number after Mexicans and Venezuelans.

Olga Romero lives in north-east Guatemala, near a town called Olopa. She has seven children, two of whom are working in the US without visas.

“It’s a poor area where it’s hard to find work, and families often pay between $2,000 and $3,000 to smuggle someone named Coyote into the United States,” says Olga.

A major problem is that to raise this amount of money many families need to take a loan secured against the value of their home. If the money is not returned they may lose their property.

And that’s often the case, given that they have little chance of reaching the US, risk accidents along the way, or are turned away at the US border.

But the rewards are high. Money sent back from the US by loved ones is known as remittances, and it is supporting Guatemala’s economy. The country received $19.8 billion in total remittances from abroad in 2023, According to a study by the Inter-American Development Bank.

President Donald Trump has vowed to get tough on undocumented immigrants, and is threatening mass deportations.

But it is not yet clear whether he will take steps to limit or end H-2A and other visa programs for temporary foreign workers.

Vanessa Garcia, executive director of the recruitment organization Juan Francisco Garcia Comparini Foundation, is optimistic that such visas will continue.

The foundation helps send approximately 200 Guatemalans per year to work in the US with H-2A visas. These are farm workers who help harvest lettuce, cauliflower, spinach and beans.

“I think the opportunities for Guatemalans to obtain H-2A visas will continue and perhaps even increase,” she says. “I’m not worried and I think this is a great opportunity for workers.”

Joe Martinez, founder and CEO of US-based Cirto, says he expects the visa scheme to continue under Trump, but that foreign workers’ rights could be weakened.

“Scierto is concerned that the emphasis on streamlining and reducing bureaucratic processes could lead to fewer worker protections and less monitored programs.”

They are concerned that wages for farmworkers could drop, and their housing conditions on American farms could worsen.

Back in Guatemala, Hector Benjamin Zoque Zar says he has made two working trips to the US through an H-2A visa. Recently he was seen working in the greenhouse growing vegetables. He says that his inspiration is his family.

“I want them to do better than me academically,” he says. “I left school as a child to work in the fields.

“Before I got this job, it seemed that my daughter would not be able to complete her final year of accountancy because we could not afford it, but now I have managed to pay for it and she Working as an accountant.”