empowering farmworkers to improve their living and working conditions since 1981

Resources, more information on the H-2B guestworker program

Immigration Labor - H-2B

In July 2010 American University's Washington College of Law and the Centro de los derechos del Migrante (Center for Migrant Rights) released a report on the lives of H-2B guestworkers (mostly women) in the Maryland crab industry.  It is an excellent resource with lots of detailed information about housing conditions, common workplace injuries and sexual harrassment.  It also has a lot of information on illegal recruitment fees the workers pay for the visa in their home countries. Download the report: Picked Apart: The Hidden Struggles of Migrant Worker Women in the Maryland Crab Industry  .

The abuse and exploitation of H-2B forestry workers has been extensively documented by Tom Knudson and Hector Amezcua of the Sacramento Bee in a series of articles documenting the life of H-2B forestry workers in the US. Check out the award-winning Piñeros: Men of the Pines.

The Southern Poverty Law Center's Immigrant Justice Project is representing forestry workers in several cases against timber companies who have violated labor and wage provisions. For information about these cases, please see this SPLC News Page. SPLC also has a booklet, Beneath the Pines, telling the stories of migrant pine tree workers.

Access to legal representation

The Northwest Workers' Justice Project and the Brennan Center for Justice filed a complaint under the labor side agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) seeking access to justice for H-2B guestworkers. Read the history of that complaint here.

Gender Discrimination Claim

In 2002, the EEOC District Commissioner in New York issued a cause determination that International Labor Management Corp., a labor recruiter, violated Title VII by denying women workers H-2A visas and steering them toward the H-2B program, where there are fewer benefits. A class action lawsuit has been filed by Farmworkers Legal Services of New York (FLSNY) and Legal Momentum.

Please also visit these webpages for more information:

Friends of Farmworkers' H2B info page - This organization includes information about the H-2B program on their webpage, including information about wage rates and H-2B labor certification applications.

Rural Migration News is a website from the University of California at Davis with lots of information about both the H-2A and H-2B programs.

Here is a statement by the AFL-CIO which states their position on responsible immigration reform, including guestworker programs.
Legal Documents

Legal Documents

H-2B Statutory Provisions:

8 USC § 1101 (a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) and 8 U.S.C. § 1184 (c)(1), (c)(14), (g)(1) and (g)(9

H-2B Regulations:

20 C.F.R. § 655.1-655.4; 8 C.F.R. 214.2 (h)(6)