As labor shortages deepen across U.S. agriculture, Representative Derrick Van Orden is pushing forward legislation aimed at stabilizing the workforce. The newly introduced Agriculture Reform Act of 2025 would address long-standing issues with the H-2A visa program. Doing so by allowing foreign agricultural workers to remain year-round under a regulated system.
“Everybody needs labor and no one can find enough labor,” says Van Orden. “If you deported every single person that is here working on our farms, the agriculture industry would collapse immediately.” He underscored how essential a stable labor pool is—not just for production in the fields, but across processing and animal agriculture.
How It Would Work
Under the bill, workers would be eligible only if their sole offense has been entering the country illegally. Having any other criminal history would disqualify them. Participants would be required to exit and reenter the U.S. through legal ports. They would then be entering a temporary protected status for one year, with the possibility of a three-year renewal. Both employer and employee would face fines—an approach Van Orden says is fair, because “the employer … knows that these folks are here unlawfully.” He emphasized that this is not amnesty, clarifying that any pathway to citizenship would follow the same process as for any newcomer entering legally.
They plan to integrate the system into an app. This would ideally be adding a button within the existing CBP One app. Currently, pressing a similar button nets you a plane ticket home and $1,000. That something more than a million people have already used. Under the proposed reform, a worker would press the button, then enter a one-year temporary protected status — but only after physically exiting the United States and reentering through a legal port of entry.
The proposal also includes management safeguards. For example, the periodic reentry requirement is designed so producers can stagger departures and arrivals, ensuring operations continue without disruption. Van Orden described the framework as a pragmatic, commonsense step toward a consistent, humane labor system: “We have to face some real simple facts, and our job is to try to make things better for people.”
If passed, the bill could open the door to using this model in sectors like construction and hospitality. For now, Van Orden says efforts are underway to work with Congress and the administration to fast-track certain executive actions guided by the legislation — but there is no firm timeline for when it might take effect.
