Trump proposes new plan to legalize workers
During a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C. on April 10, U.S. President Donald J. Trump proposed a new program to help legalize farm workers, helping farmers by reducing the risk of losing undocumented workers to mass deportation.
This announcement comes after numerous agricultural industry leaders expressed concerns over a mass deportation of agricultural workers, adversely impacting the food supply chain and those who play an essential role in both the meat and dairy sectors.
For the first time, Trump exhibited willingness to adjust his mass deportation plans in order to help protect the labor pool for industries like agriculture.
Trump notes farmers and other businesses need workers, and undocumented workers will be given a chance to self-deport and return to the country legally, an incentive for those in the country illegally to identify themselves under the Alien Registration Act with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem highlighted border security and deportations, noting thousands of people have self-deported back to their home countries in the past two months.
“We’re going to work with people. If they go back to their country, we’re going to work with them right from the beginning on trying to get them back legally,” Trump states. “So, it gives everyone a real incentive.”
Trump mentions undocumented workers would have the chance to return to the country legally within a certain time frame, which will likely be 60 days.
“Farm workers who register would not have to immediately leave the country but could instead remain working on a farm, at least for a temporary period,” he adds. “We’re also going to work with our farmers so if they have strong recommendations for certain people, we’re going to let them stay for a while, then come back and go through a process – a legal process.”
Trump has also instructed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and her department to work with farmers to help verify worker status on farms.
Receiving support
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Labor Survey released in January, the percentage of undocumented agricultural workers was around 42 percent, or roughly 500,000 people, working in crops.
“To fill the void of legal labor, farmers’ H-2A programs have grown in recent years and now fill more than 384,000 positions. In Fiscal Year 2024, roughly 22,000 farms used H-2A guest workers,” Progressive Farmer Editor Chris Clayton states in an April 11 article.
However, workers are considered temporary, so livestock farmers are typically unable to use the H-2A program.
Farm groups have been urging Congress for years to pass legislation allowing year-round guest workers, included provisions legalizing farm workers in the country who are currently undocumented.
In response to Trump’s announcement, American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall released a statement, “We heard Trump’s comments about farm labor during his cabinet meeting, and we thank the president for recognizing the importance of farmworkers and for considering the impact of the labor crisis in agriculture. We look forward to learning about the specifics of his plan. Every American is dependent on these workers to keep their families fed and pantries full.”
In addition, the National Council of Farmers Cooperatives (NCFC) President and Chief Executive Officer Chuck Conner states, “I would like to commend Trump for his remarks at the cabinet meeting today, recognizing 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 Trump administration to ensure the plan works for all types of farmers and ranchers.”
Melissa Anderson is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
