Author: Christian Zlolniski
The H2-A Program as Recruitment and Disciplining Tool for Baja’s Mexican Indigenous Farmworkers in the United States
This paper examines the recruitment of indigenous farm laborers from Baja as temporal H-2A workers in the United States. In light of tight border enforcement of the US-Mexico border, many growers in the United States increasingly rely on H2-A workers to fill their labor needs. I discuss the growth of this program in the San Quintin Valley in Baja California, one of the major agro-export enclaves in northern Mexico. I focus on the mechanisms used by US companies to recruit in this region, the role social media play in the process, and workers’ own assessment about their experiences in this program. The growth of temporal workers in the fresh-produce industry speaks of a transnational production and labor regime characterized by flows of capital, goods, and labor across the Mexico-US border. This labor regime reflects a similar trend with the growth of export agriculture in other countries in Latin America.