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This article investigates the formation of contemporary Puerto Rican farm labor in the United States and is based on a survey of farmworkers conducted from July through November of 2010 in the Northeast. We argue that this labor force is constructed, organized, and maintained by the following: labor-market conditions, including high unemployment in Puerto Rico and higher wages in the United States; circular migration and social networks among seasonal agricultural workers; U.S. citizenship of Puerto Rican workers and the legal requirements of employers to give native workers preference in hiring for agricultural jobs; and, finally, factors contributing to the social isolation of Puerto Rican seasonal workers, such as few ties to the local communities in which they work and poor English-language skills. Puerto Rican farmworkers offer a prime example of open-border seasonal migration for examination by scholars and policy makers concerned with agricultural guest-worker programs. This case study provides insights into how policies, experiences, and conditions in farm labor may or may not be related to the workers' legal status, but rather to the labor-market dynamics and social conditions affecting them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]