Expanding the Field of View: The Role of Agricultural Employers in Street-Level Immigration Policy Implementation

Abstract

More than half the U.S. farm labor force is undocumented, and thousands of U.S. employers hire farmworkers through the short-term H-2A visa program. Immigration enforcement and H-2A policy thus have an important role in farm labor markets, but its nature depends on street-level policy implementation dynamics. An interview-based case study in New York State extended literature on street-level bureaucrats by broadening the focus to actors outside government in the context of labor markets. The research specifies employer roles in policy implementation as beneficiaries of policy, de facto policy implementers, and citizens reacting to or attempting to influence policy.