(WASHINGTON D.C.) — President Donald Trump held a Cabinet meeting with his top officials Thursday and said his administration would provide some relief to farmers and hotel operators who employ immigrants lacking legal status.
“We have to take care of our farmers, their hotels and, you know, various places where they need the people,” he said. “A farmer will come in with a letter concerning certain people saying they’re great, they’re working hard. We’re going to slow down a little bit for them, and then we’re going to ultimately bring them back. They’ll go out, they’re going to come back as legal workers,” Trump explained.
According to DTN, it was the first time the president had signaled a willingness to temper his mass deportation plans to help protect the labor pool for industries such as agriculture. Undocumented workers will be given a chance to self-deport and return to the country legally, he said. That should be an incentive for people in the country illegally to identify themselves under the Alien Registration Act with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. Trump suggested undocumented workers would have the chance to return to the country legally within a certain time frame, “which is probably going to be 60 days,” he said.
Chuck Conner, President and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives commented on President Trump’s remarks saying in a statement that “I would like to commend President Trump for his remarks at the cabinet meeting today that recognize the critical importance of foreign-born farm workers to American agriculture. As details of this proposal become clearer, NCFC looks forward to working with the Administration to ensure that the plan works for all types of farmers and ranchers.”
More than two-thirds of U.S. crop workers are foreign-born, according to the USDA. Many of them came to the country through the H-2A visas, but officials estimate that 42% of the workers are undocumented migrants.
Sources: DTN’s Chris Clayton and NAFB News Service
