Trump administration's wage cuts for seasonal farmworkers is unlawful, federal judge in California rules

Brittny Mejia, Los Angeles Times on Aug 26, 2026

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A Labor Department rule that cut wages for foreign guest workers is unlawful, a California federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Kirk E. Sherriff in Fresno concluded that the Labor Department failed to reasonably consider whether it could satisfy its legal obligation "to ensure that the hiring of H-2A workers will not 'adversely affect' U.S. farmworkers' wages." But he allowed the Department of Labor rule to remain temporarily in effect while the agency develops a replacement.

Sherriff ordered the Labor Department to "promptly produce" a new methodology for calculating H-2A wage rates consistent with his decision. He directed the agency to notify employers backpay may be owed to H-2A workers and U.S. farmworkers if the new applicable rates exceed what they were paid.

The ruling is a win for farm-worker advocates who sued the Trump administration last year, arguing that the rule would undercut wages paid to U.S. workers. More than a dozen farmworkers across the nation, along with the United Farm Workers of America and the UFW Foundation, sought to overturn the rule.

The plaintiffs alleged that the rule — which they said cut wages of H-2A workers between $3 and $7 per hour — was "unlawful" and would "put downward pressure on the wages of U.S. workers" who are in similar jobs, often on the same contracts as those with visas.

According to the UFW Foundation, after the rule went into effect, wages in California fell from $19.97 to $16.90 an hour — a 15% cut for both H-2A workers and U.S. farmworkers working beside them.

"This decision recognizes the important and essential work of the men and women who put food on our tables and that farm workers should get paid fairly," Teresa Romero, president of the United Farm Workers, said in a statement. "The government must move quickly to issue new, legal, wage rates that protect the jobs and wages of local farm workers, and employers must be held accountable for paying back any difference between the new legal wage and the illegal wage rates still in effect."

The Department of Labor and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether the government plans to appeal.

The Department of Labor previously estimated that the rule, which went into effect Oct. 2, would save employers $2.46 billion yearly. The union argued in the lawsuit that it constituted "a transfer of wealth from the workers to their employers."

In 2020, the Trump administration attempted to implement a similar rule but was blocked by a UFW and UFW Foundation lawsuit.

At a March hearing, Alexandra McTague Schulte, an attorney representing the U.S. Department of Labor, argued that the lower H-2A wage rates would not affect U.S. workers because growers already faced a labor shortage, with demand for farm labor exceeding the available supply, CalMatters reported.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, include farmworkers from Michigan, Georgia, California, Washington, Texas and Missouri.

Among the plaintiffs is Crisanto Serrano, a farmworker in Sunnyside, Wash., who said more growers "just want to hire H-2A 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."

"We don't matter to the growers and to this President," Serrano said in a statement. "They are happy to hire a new worker for less pay. But I am very happy that the court did take us into account. I hope this court decision will protect our wages and our jobs here in the Yakima Valley for a long time."

Erica Lomeli Corcoran, chief executive officer of the UFW Foundation, hailed Sherriff's ruling as "a much-needed victory for farm workers all over the country."

"Farm workers deserve to be paid a fair day's wage for a fair day's work," she said in a statement. "Now that the court has spoken, the Trump administration should do the right thing and work to protect farm worker wages."

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