While President Trump has restricted most legal immigration programs, the H-2A visa program for guest farmworkers has expanded dramatically, with the administration deeming it vital for its role in securing the U.S. food supply — particularly during the pandemic. But as the program expands, more guest workers have been subject to abuse as farmers rely on contractors — who are notorious for placing laborers in dangerous conditions and charging them enormous sums for transport — for the hiring and transportation of workers, Suzy Khimm and Daniella Silva report for NBC News.  “The Department of Labor has not been good about throwing the bad ones out,” said Philip Martin, a labor economist at the University of California, Davis.

Facing cramped conditions and some exploitative employers, it’s no surprise that farmworkers are at high risk of contracting COVID-19. “They’re part of an industry where safety and labor standards are notoriously weak, but many workers cannot leave their jobs because they’ll fall into poverty. The stakes are even higher for undocumented workers, whose legal status leaves them vulnerable to immigration enforcement,” Monica Campbell reports for The World. Anastacio Cruz, a farmworker in California who was laid off with two weeks’ pay after contracting a severe case of the virus, told The World: “I’m not sure when I will work again. I’m telling people to take care of themselves, wear the mask, so that people don’t go through this. It’s hell for the family.”

As I wrote on Medium, unlike Google employees — much less many of us reading this newsletter — farmworkers are not working from home till Summer 2021. A tale of two valleys, indeed.

Welcome to Thursday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. Have a story you’d like us to include? Email me at [email protected]. 

PUBLIC CHARGE – A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s “public charge” rule — which would make it more difficult for immigrants who use public benefits to gain legal status — from going into effect during the pandemic, ensuring that immigrants will not be targeted for using health and other vital services, Priscilla Alvarez reports for CNN. “Any policy that deters residents from seeking testing and treatment for COVID-19 increases the risk of infection for such residents and the public. Adverse government action that targets immigrants, however, is particularly dangerous during a pandemic,” wrote Judge George Daniels. “Public charge” will now likely end up back in the Supreme Court, which has already denied two requests to block the rule. 

A TICKET TO FREEDOM – Indian immigrants in the U.S., including many highly skilled and educated workers, face decades-long delays in receiving their green cards, writes Ananya Bhattacharya for Quartz [paywall]. The delays have led some to try their luck in countries more welcoming to immigrants — like Canada, where the number of Indians applying for permanent residency has doubled since 2016. For Indians holding out hope in the U.S., green cards are a ticket to freedom from the H-1B visa, which is less reliable: “If we were to lose our jobs today … it would mean a flight back to India despite having spent our young years being as productive as possible in researching and mentoring, paying taxes, and being law-abiding citizens,” said Anuja, an Indian post-doctoral fellow.

RELIEF IN NJ – The New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund is stepping in where the federal government won’t, providing $4.5 million in cash assistance to the estimated 475,000 undocumented immigrants in New Jersey struggling with unemployment amid the pandemic. “Whatever uncertainty undocumented families had before, that’s now dialed up to a 10,” said Mark Dinglasan, executive director of Cumac, which provides food and job-training services in New Jersey. But while the relief efforts are positive, state support hasn’t stuck: Although undocumented workers in New Jersey pay about $587 million in state and local taxes annually, efforts to allocate some state funds for pandemic relief for these workers have failed to gain traction in the state, reports Joseph De Avila for The Wall Street Journal.

REMEMBER REFUGEES – President Trump’s crackdown on legal immigration will likely reverberate for years to come — no matter who the president is after November — with other countries competing for talent and with highly educated and skilled immigrants deterred by the recent U.S. immigration turmoil. But, as Noah Smith argues in a column for Bloomberg, legal immigration is essential for U.S. innovation and progress — so while legal immigration recovers, the U.S. should look to refugees as its source of foreign-born talent. “These could include political dissidents, who tend to be educated. It could also include ethnic and religious minorities fleeing persecution. … By letting in persecuted individuals and groups, [the U.S.] can do a good deed, enhance its battered international standing and help sustain its technological and industrial strength.”

MISMATCH – This week on “Only in America,” we continue asking “How did we get here?” by looking at how the legal structure of our immigration agencies and enforcement policies, shaped in the 1990s, have created many of the challenges we face today. I chatted with Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute, who sheds light on this important period of immigration history from her firsthand experience as a former Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Thanks for reading,

Ali