OPINION

Washington state pays the highest Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) in the country, $16.34 an hour. The AEWR acts as a de facto minimum wage for the federal H-2A temporary worker visa program. The H-2A program allows farmers and ranchers all over the United States who prove there are not enough local farmworkers present in their state to hire farmworkers from outside the U.S. on a visa to work in th...