Preliminary data shows a decrease in immigrant work visas in Minnesota this year

CHRIS FARRELL: Now, foreign-born workers play a major role in Minnesota's agricultural and hospitality sectors. Many of these workers have come to the United States on temporary visas or have some other legal status, while many others are undocumented. President Donald Trump's efforts to restrict immigration and step up enforcement have caused uncertainty for some workers with and without legal status, and we wanted to learn more about whether that uncertainty is carrying over into the rural economy.

So we called Ma Elena Gutierrez, an advocate for immigrant workers in Central Minnesota, where she founded the organization Fe y Justicia, or Faith in Justice. Hi, Ma Elena. Thank you for taking the time.

MA ELENA GUTIERREZ: Hi.

CHRIS FARRELL: I really appreciate it. And also joining me is Fernando Quijano, a University of Minnesota extension educator for our community economics, and he's based in Moorhead. And he analyzes employment and migration patterns in Minnesota. Welcome

FERNANDO QUIJANO: Hello, Chris. I'm glad to be in the program this morning.

CHRIS FARRELL: Well, I really appreciate it. And, Fernando, I'll just start off with you. People may have heard of temporary visa programs, like H-1B, H-2A. Give us a sense how many workers are here on these kinds of visas.

FERNANDO QUIJANO: Well, I have pretty good numbers for last year.

CHRIS FARRELL: OK, that's good.

FERNANDO QUIJANO: And we're working on the numbers for this year, but it's around 4,000 workers. It's a little bit over 4,000 workers in the H-2A program. So that includes farm workers and equipment operators, beekeepers, and nursery workers. Yeah, we also have around 2,300 hires in the H-2B program, and that is the temporary non-agricultural occupations, like landscape and groundskeepers, amusement and recreation attendants included.

I know you mentioned them. And yeah, cooks, waiters, housekeepers, production workers, and that sort of thing.

CHRIS FARRELL: I know this is a big question, and we can't go on too long. But give us a sense of the role that these workers are playing in the rural economy.

FERNANDO QUIJANO: Well, these workers are crucial, Chris. And that's the reason why they're here, of course. Yeah, the fundamental premise of my research in this area is that when a community cannot find local workers to fill critical jobs in high demand, they can and should consider looking for talent in global labor markets.

And migrant workers are a prime example of that. Yeah, we need them. And so they play a critical role. And I think what we need, Chris, is more education.

This is a great time for that, for beginning to educate both business firms, both sides of the market. Labor migration is a market with supply and demand. So both sides need education and then the involvement of communities in the process as well.

CHRIS FARRELL: Yeah, and Ma Elena, tell us about the workers you advocate for. I mean, what kind of work are they doing?

FERNANDO QUIJANO: Well, I don't advocate--

MA ELENA GUTIERREZ: We are--

FERNANDO QUIJANO: I'm sorry.

CHRIS FARRELL: That's OK. Ma Elena?

MA ELENA GUTIERREZ: Yes.

FERNANDO QUIJANO: Oh, I'm sorry.

CHRIS FARRELL: Yeah, no, no. No Problem.

FERNANDO QUIJANO: All right.

MA ELENA GUTIERREZ: Hi. Well, the work that we do is grassroots organizing. We organize in the community and workers and especially workers around Central Minnesota that are working in agriculture and meatpacking. So the workers, we are direct contact with them. And I mean, they come to the meetings and to the trainings, are workers that work on dairy farms and vegetables and agriculture around Central Minnesota.

CHRIS FARRELL: So tell us a little bit about the concerns that they're expressing at this period of time. What are you hearing in your meetings?

MA ELENA GUTIERREZ: Well, in the meetings that we have heard from the last three years, when they are sick, they were not able to go to the doctor. They get basically punishment if they ask for permission or something, or they get retaliation if they are asking for permissions. So may we haven't heard about not having-- they don't get paid pay overtime.

They just get paid like regular hours. And they don't live in good conditions they have. They live in many people in one household, like in one house or one mobile home or things like that. And we have been having meetings every monthly, one meeting every month, just to hear from them and to teach them the rights that they have at work.

CHRIS FARRELL: And, Fernando, from your research and just what Ma Elena is talking about, are you starting to see an economic impact of what she's describing?

FERNANDO QUIJANO: Yes, but like I said, I have preliminary data that is not-- I can tell you with certainty if we talk about again in mid-October, when the third quarter numbers come out. But for now, with my preliminary estimates, we are down a little bit, not dramatically in the H-2A in the agricultural worker program, but we are dramatically down in the H-2B. And that's concerning because we're talking about construction workers, cooks, waiters, amusement attendants, and so on.

But generally the points that Ma Elena brings remind me of the need for-- this is a great time for businesses to invest in labor-based migration and do things right and turn undocumented workers into documented ones. And there is no limit to H-2A visas. If we do more and we have better education about this topic, we can definitely match, align the needs of workers and the needs of firms in this regard. We just need to do things that make more sense.

CHRIS FARRELL: And, Ma Elena, how are you responding to the fear and the uncertainty that you've described? I mean, how do you help people out?

MA ELENA GUTIERREZ: Well, how we are helping people is to their rights, to their rights at work. And I know that there is fear.

CHRIS FARRELL: And I'm sorry to interrupt you, but when you say know their rights at work, just give us an example.

MA ELENA GUTIERREZ: For example, that they have the right to get paid overtime after 48 hours a week, and they have the right to, where they live, to have a space with a heater or their house with windows, the house not infected of insects or other types, other things. So we explained that they have the right to have lunch time.

And more things that we know, we also have been teaching about the ESST law that was passed in last year. And it was implemented last year in January 2024. We have been working really hard on all this.

Last, we have been working last-- they also come with us to the capital, the workers. But since this new administration, it seems like it's fear on them.

CHRIS FARRELL: Yeah.

MA ELENA GUTIERREZ: Yeah, but they are trying. They are trying. We are trying also to do the best we can.

CHRIS FARRELL: Well, this is a really important topic, and I could go on. But we will return to this subject because it is so important. But thank you to both of you for taking your time to shed light on what's happening in the rural economy in Minnesota.

FERNANDO QUIJANO: Thank you for having us, Chris.

MA ELENA GUTIERREZ: Thank you. Bye bye.

CHRIS FARRELL: Fernando Quijano is an extension educator for community economics at the University of Minnesota Moorhead, and Ma Elena Gutierrez is the founder of the Central Minnesota advocacy organization Fe y Justicia, or Faith in Justice.