Emails show labor department struggling to deliver on H-2A ‘one-stop shop’ promise

This article was originally published by our Rural News Network partner, Investigate Midwest.

by Sky Chadde, Investigate Midwest
Originally published March 3, 2026

Key takeaways

• After it was announced, industry groups sought clarification on what the purpose of the new Office of Immigration Policy was. Officials replied that it was taking over responsibilities “already held” by an existing office — language the department backtracked in a statement to Investigate Midwest.
• A staffer questioned whether the stances of prospective hires to the new office “will be aligned with the Secretary’s?” And the longtime Labor Department veteran tapped to run the office last summer was replaced in January with someone who used to work at ICE. 
• Three departments administer the H-2A visa program, which allows farmers to bring foreign workers to the U.S. temporarily. Industry groups told the Labor Department the “real hangups” were with the other two, the State Department and Department of Homeland Security.

In June, as the Trump administration faced backlash from farmers and agriculture officials over its mass deportation effort stripping farms of employees, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer presented a solution: the new Office of Immigration Policy.

The office would slash red tape, including easing the process for farmers to access workers on temporary labor visas. Instead of jumping through hoops with three government agencies, employers would apply through a single portal, Chavez-DeRemer promised.

“We’re going to do one, dedicated ‘one-stop shop,’ as I call it,” she said. “We’re going to see that change come across fairly rapidly, because that’s the problem, and they want a solution, and they wanted it yesterday.”

But about eight months after the new office was created, the Labor Department is struggling to deliver on its stated goals, according to internal emails obtained by Investigate Midwest through a public records request.

To bring workers to the U.S. on short-term visas, employers require approval from the Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department. Chavez-DeRemer publicly announced a consolidation effort for the H-2A visa, which is specifically for agriculture, in late June at the Western Governors’ Association, according to The Packer. 

Several weeks later, in an email thread with the subject line “Single Electronic H-2A Visa Portal System,” a department veteran threw cold water on the idea.

“The larger issue is that DOL does not control or have legal authorities to access DHS and DOS systems/data (which are far more protected than DOL) and the DOGE team found that out pretty quickly,” the head of the new office at the time said. “So, we should be looking at joint portal development options with DHS” [underlined in original].

Chavez-DeRemer has told Congress that her department was collaborating with “other federal partners” to make visa processing “simpler and less burdensome.” But the emails show staff at the new office having little interaction with other agencies.

The status of the “one-stop shop” is unclear. The Labor Department has no press releases announcing a new process for applying for visa workers, and it did not answer when asked whether a single portal exists. 

“At the direction of the Secretary, the Department of Labor remains focused on delivering real improvements for employers, working to streamline visa processes, and expanding lawful workforce pathways,” department spokeswoman Courtney Parella said in a statement to Investigate Midwest. “The Office of Immigration Policy was created to do just that by finding ways to cut red tape and improve coordination across a complex federal system — an innovative effort that is already delivering results.”

The department pointed to rescinding a Biden-era rule providing farmworkers with workplace protections, suspending the collection of fees to process H-2A applications and revoking an Obama-era ruling that did not allow employers to stagger when it brought H-2A workers to the U.S. All three were included in a document titled “OIP WINS” that the new office’s staff had prepared for Parella and her communications colleagues on Aug. 8, according to the emails.

Since then, the department has changed how employers can pay H-2A workers. Also, the department said it collaborated with DHS to publish a final rule that allows employers to submit H-2A application paperwork to both departments simultaneously. This has reduced “processing time by weeks,” the Labor Department said. 

However, the rule states plainly that “concurrent processing” should “not be confused with ‘concurrent filing.’ ” While DHS can intake employers’ paperwork, it still needs to wait for the Labor Department to approve an application before DHS can begin processing, according to a footnote in the rule.

One industry representative who contacted the new office with questions, according to the emails, said staff have been “very responsive and helpful.” He did not answer when asked if applying for H-2A visas has gotten easier or more efficient since last summer.

“DOL staff have met directly with Farm Bureau members to answer questions and explain intricacies of guest worker programs,” said Laramie Adams, the associate director of government affairs at the Texas Farm Bureau. “That direct engagement has been beneficial for producers and is a positive step for the agricultural sector.”

Recently, the Labor Department has faced multiple controversies. In January, the New York Post reported the labor department’s inspector general was probing whether Chavez-DeRemer misused federal funds to carry on an affair. The New York Times also reported her husband was banned from the building after he allegedly groped two female staffers.

The department did not respond to a question about whether the firestorm was diverting Chavez-DeRemer’s attention away from her promise of a “one-stop shop.”

In early June, after the agriculture sector pleaded for relief from the immigration crackdown, President Trump paused immigration enforcement on farms. However, raids resumed days later.

After the incident, Trump said he wanted to give farmers discretion over undocumented workers. His agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, “said, ‘So, we have a little problem. The farmers are losing a lot of people,’ and we figured it out, and we have some great stuff being written,” he said during a July 4 speech.

It’s unclear if he was referring to the new Office of Immigration Policy. At the time, the office was the only new government initiative announced that focused on building up the farm workforce.

As the Trump administration continues to arrest and deport immigrants en masse, farms are scrambling to find reliable labor. Government surveys show roughly 40% of America’s 2 million farmworkers are undocumented. 

Trump has touted the H-2A visa program as a farm labor solution. But H-2A visa workers can only fill agricultural jobs that are considered seasonal, i.e. not year-round. Employers engaged in many types of agricultural production, such as dairy farming, cannot use the program.

Project 2025, the blueprint for Trump’s second term, called for the elimination of the H-2A program. It also aimed to cancel the H-2B visa program, which meatpacking plants have used to fill jobs. Trump officials, such as Stephen Miller, have claimed native-born Americans would fill the dangerous, back-breaking agriculture jobs while getting paid more.

Chavez-DeRemer — who used to represent Oregon, a largely Democratic state, as a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives — has differed with other administration officials. 

“None of the Americans I know want to do some of these jobs,” she said this past summer, according to The Packer.

The agricultural industry has clamored for the H-2A program to be expanded. In January, Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, the ranking Republican on the House’s agriculture committee, said he would soon introduce legislation addressing the situation, according to Politico. 

If the H-2A program is expanded, employers could still face issues largely beyond the Labor Department’s control. 

At a recent conference, agricultural employers complained that H-2A employees weren’t arriving in the U.S. on time to harvest crops, according to Agri-Pulse. The U.S. Consulate in Mexico, which the State Department oversees, had not yet approved the workers to enter the U.S.

The holdup could stem from the Trump administration’s decision, last year, to interview every H-2A worker in person at the consulate. Most interviews had been waived to ease farmers’ access to labor. At a webinar this past summer for agriculture employers, a representative for the U.S. consulate in Mexico said workers needed to disclose any “derogatory” information about themselves, including whether they had previously tried to enter the U.S. If they didn’t, that could hurt their chances of getting the visa.

The new emails show that industry groups were most concerned about how DHS and the State Department were processing visas.

“As far as streamlining the process goes,” a representative of a specialty crop trade group told the Labor Department staff this past summer, DHS and State “are where we see the real hangups.”

A State Department spokesperson said in a statement the department takes “the time necessary to ensure an applicant does not pose a risk to the safety and security of the United States.”

DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

Industry groups pursue labor department’s help with DHS, State

The emails show industry groups asking the Labor Department for assistance with DHS and the State Department.

In July, about two weeks after Chavez-DeRemer announced the new office, a Florida association contacted its staff.

“Is this office set up enough to assist with some issues at DOS/DHS?” asked Jamie Fussel, the director of labor relations at the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association.

An association member — a farm labor contractor that farms hire to provide visa labor — had requested more than 200 H-2A workers to pick blueberries in New Jersey. But the State Department had not approved their visas and told the contractor a resolution could take months, according to the emails.

“There’s been a lot of crop loss at this point because the berries remained on the bush and went bad,” Fussel said. “With only two weeks to go, I’m not sure that it’d even be worthwhile at this point for the workers to be approved.”

“I know … that you know … our authority here is a bit limited,” replied Brian Pasternak, a longtime Labor Department employee who was appointed the head of the new office this past summer. “I have reached out to ask about this matter. If we hear something back, I will email you.”

“Completely understand the limits of your authority — ours is even less,” Fussel responded. “Just reaching out based on the new [office] and in case this is the type of issue the Secretary envisioned assisting with.”

The Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association did not respond to a request for comment. Pasternak did not respond to a request for comment to his government email. 

The State Department said the consulate processes H-2A visas in three days or less “in the majority of cases.”

Around the same time, a lobbyist for a company named BDV Solutions emailed the new office’s staff. BDV focuses on EB-3 Unskilled visas, which are for immigrants with little experience in their planned line of work. (Unlike the H-2A visa, the EB-3 Unskilled is not specific to agriculture.) 

The lobbyist, Jonathan Baselice, told Pasternak his board was “anxious” to talk about its “four constructive meetings with Secretary [Kristi] Noem’s team at DHS.” DHS is interested in “the idea of an emergency roundtable where all of the key Departments are represented and we can discuss holistic policy changes that help build efficiencies as visa petitions move from DOL to DHS to DOS,” Baselice said.

It’s unclear if an “emergency roundtable” occurred. Baselice did not respond to a request for comment. DHS did not respond to a request for comment about the email.

Questions about new office’s purpose flood in

Almost immediately after the new office was announced, stakeholders sought clarification, according to the emails.

In early July, Hayley Fernandes, a staffer at the Office of Immigration Policy, blasted out an email to industry groups.

“We’ve gotten quite a few inquiries about [the new office]!” she wrote. “We do not believe that any press on this announcement is needed from you all, but more so, we would just like to have you please share it with members — the Secretary wants farmers to know we are listening to them and working to make the H-2A process better!”

She then compared the work the new office would do to the Office of Foreign Labor Certification, which processes labor-related visas.

“The [office] is taking on the responsibilities already held by the Office of Foreign Labor Certification,” she said. “This means that all visa programs that DOL already touches will still be covered under the office. This office will report directly to the Secretary, to streamline its ability to execute immigration related policy priorities” [emphasis in original].

Asked about this email, the Labor Department said the new office is focused on “department-wide strategy … and interagency alignment across immigration-related programs.” The foreign labor certification office “continues administering” visa programs, it said.

Matthew Penner, a staff member with the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, also emailed with questions. He asked whether the new office would hire more staff and whether it would process the same number of visas as before.

Fernandes replied that the new office was subject to Trump’s federal hiring freeze. The second answer is redacted.

Before replying to Penner, Fernandes sent proposed answers to Jihun Han, Chavez-DeRemer’s chief of staff. Han is now on administrative leave as the inspector general probes his boss’s alleged travel fraud, according to NBC News. On Monday, he was reportedly forced out.

“Please see our drafted responses,” Fernandes told Han, “and given the sensitivities around immigration/H-2A we just wanted to flag for [the secretary’s office] before sending back. We feel comfortable that everything in writing is something we or the Secretary has said publicly.”

Penner did not respond to a request for comment. Fernandes left the labor department in December to work for U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican. She did not return a request for comment to her House email address. 

Staffer asks whether potential hires ‘align’ with Chavez-DeRemer

About a month into the office’s existence this past summer, Pasternak, the office’s head at the time, aimed to hire more staffers to the small team, according to the emails. 

He asked Fernandes what she thought of three possible candidates.

“Interesting … I am curious if their stances will be aligned with the Secretary’s?” Fernandes asked. “Third one is a bit of a curveball….” 

The full names of the candidates and their resumes are not included in the records. The emails also don’t show what stances she’s referring to or why she singled out one candidate.

It’s unclear if the jobs were political appointments or for the civil service. Career government jobs have been designed to be free from politics, but Trump has tried to change this so new hires are more politically aligned with him, according to The New York Times. 

The Labor Department did not answer when asked how many people work for the new office. Just three people regularly appear in the emails as employees: Pasternak, Fernandes and Dalton Shell, a department attorney.

Pasternak is a department veteran of more than 20 years and ran the foreign labor certification office for years. It’s unclear what his role at the new office is now that a new person, Brian Kennedy, was sworn in to lead the office in January, the department said. Kennedy previously served as policy director for the House Committee on Homeland Security and used to be a senior advisor to the director of ICE. 

Fernandes began working for Chavez-DeRemer in 2023, shortly after graduating from college in California, according to her LinkedIn.

About two weeks after the office was created, Han, the chief of staff, asked Pasternak to include Shell in developing the new office.

“It came to OSEC’s [Office of the Secretary] attention that Dalton specialized in ag labor law, grew up on a farm, and family has utilized the H-2A program,” Han said.

According to Shell’s LinkedIn, he graduated from law school in 2023 and spent a year at a law firm in Elizabethton, Tennessee. The firm focuses on real estate law, according to its website. Shell’s mother runs a self-described “family farm and bakery” that she started in 2023, according to her LinkedIn. The farm doesn’t appear in the labor department’s database of H-2A employers going back to 2023, but it could have hired H-2A workers through a farm labor contractor.

Shell did not respond to a request for comment to his government email.

Citations & References:

Statements

Laramie Adams, Texas Farm Bureau, Feb. 20, 2026

Courtney Parella, U.S. Department of Labor, Feb. 24, 2026

U.S. Department of State, Feb. 25, 2026

FOIA records

Emails related to the Office of Immigration Policy

News stories

“Meatpacking plants have long relied on immigrant labor. Now, some are turning to foreign visa workers.” Investigate Midwest, Aug. 19, 2021

“In bankruptcy’s wake, a Minnesota meatpacking plant’s visa workers face an uncertain future,” Investigate Midwest, May 12, 2023

“Deportations, raids and visa access. How the presidential election could alter life for immigrant farmworkers.” Investigate Midwest, Sept. 11, 2024

“Local attorney tapped for U.S. Department of Labor post,” Elizabethton Star, April 25, 2025

“In Trump’s ‘Patriotic’ Hiring Plan, Experts See a Politicized Federal Work Force,” The New York Times, June 10, 2025

“Inside Trump’s Extraordinary Turnaround on Immigration Raids,” The New York Times, June 14, 2025

“Trump officials reverse guidance exempting farms, hotels from immigration raids,” Washington Post, June 16, 2025

“DOL Secretary Pushes for One-Stop Shop for H-2A Processing,” The Packer, June 26, 2025

“‘Farming in the dark’: Brooke Rollins’ leadership, DOGE’s grip and the cost to American agriculture,” Investigate Midwest, July 16, 2025

“Trump’s deportations are causing farm labor issues. He hasn’t presented a viable, long-term solution.” Investigate Midwest, Oct. 29, 2025

“Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer under investigation for ‘inappropriate’ relationship with employee,” New York Post, Jan. 9, 2026

“Farm labor reform takes center stage,” Politico’s Weekly Agriculture, Jan. 12, 2026

“Multiple Labor Department staffers are on leave admit internal probe into Secretary Chavez-DeRemer,” NBC News, Jan. 17, 2026

“Some H-2A workers put on hold, costing growers,” Agri-Pulse, Feb. 18, 2026

“Labor Secretary’s Husband Barred From the Department After Sexual Assault Reports,” The New York Times, Feb. 19, 2026

Government publications

“Findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) 2021-2022: A Demographic and Unemployment Profile of United States Crop Workers,” U.S. Department of Labor publication, September 2023

“How Many People Work in Agriculture in the United States?” Congressional Research Service publication, April 8, 2025

“Questions for the Record for Lori Chavez-DeRemer,” including responses, Committee on Education and Workforce Hearing publication, June 5, 2025

“Facilitating Earlier Filing of Certain Electronically Submitted H-2A Petitions,” Federal Register rule, Oct. 2, 2025

Type of work:

Investigative / Enterprise In-depth examination of a single subject requiring extensive research and resources.

This article first appeared on Investigate Midwest and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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