Yuma County says federal shutdown is delaying H-2A approvals; board to ask congressional delegation for help
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Summary
County staff reported H-2A visa-processing delays tied to the federal government shutdown are threatening winter harvest operations; the board said it will send a letter to Arizona's congressional delegation requesting assistance to expedite processing and reduce potential crop-loss risks.
County staff delivered a state and federal fiscal update on Nov. 3 and told the Board of Supervisors that the ongoing federal government shutdown has disrupted several agency functions that process H-2A agricultural-worker visas, creating delays that threaten local harvest operations.
Staff reported the Labor Department and parts of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services processing pipeline were unavailable during the shutdown, which temporarily shut down web systems and slowed approvals. "Without these seasonal farm workers, the impacts are immediate and severe," staff said, adding that delays could result in unharvested fields, reduced yields, and broader food-supply impacts.
The board directed staff to send a letter to Arizona's congressional delegation requesting immediate assistance to restore or expedite H-2A processing. Staff also reported outreach to federal representatives and said there was some progress but that bottlenecks remained.
The county update also noted that Governor Katie Hobbs announced an emergency allocation to food banks to address federal SNAP disruptions; county staff described the federal shutdown as having broader effects on social-service delivery and agricultural labor pipelines.