Homeland Security Needs To Return To Old COVID Requirements, Newhouse Says

A group of a dozen lawmakers, many of whom come from the Pacific Northwest, are calling on the Department of Homeland Security to reverse its decision when it comes to travel to the United States. The Department recently announced that those traveling to the U.S. would need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before entering the country. That, according to the lawmakers, will make it more challenging for the farming community to get needed H-2A workers for the season ahead. Representative Dan Newhouse, Chair of the Western Caucus, said vaccines prior to crossing the border is not a good policy.

“The lines are long, the vaccine supplies are short, and the truth of the mater is the vaccine that they’re administering in some of the other counties are not even approved by the United States federal government.  They are some of the less efficacious vaccines that are available in the world.”

Newhouse said the bipartisan group of lawmakers have asked Homeland Security to return to the policy used last year, where once a worker arrived in the U.S., the grower or company for which they worked was responsible to ensure vaccination.

“There’s no need for a federal agency to throw another wrench into the works by creating a situation that we don’t have to create.  We can solve this problem by using a proven method that we used last year.  It was very successful, and I hope they listen to us.”

Newhouse added this new policy will have a direct, negative impact on the farming community, meaning essential workers will not arrive on time. He said at this point they have yet to hear back from Homeland Security, adding if he does not hear from the Department soon, they will reach out again.

Click Here to read the entire letter, sent to Homeland Security.

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