Posted on 08/05/2025 8:55:39 AM PDT by Miami Rebel
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration will release new rules and regulations on migrant farm labor, as the country’s need for workers and the food they help produce clashes with his vow to deport undocumented immigrants.
Trump said his administration will continue to deport criminals, but that he wants to “work with” farmers to find a solution for their workers, oftentimes immigrants who have lived in the country illegally for decades and are paying taxes. He suggested the White House was working on a touchback program for some workers, requiring them to leave the U.S. and reenter through a legal pathway, an idea that faces strong opposition among immigration hawks who view exceptions for one industry as a slippery slope.
Trump teases new policy for migrant farm labor Officials are debating how to placate farmers’ need for migrant labor without appearing to offer amnesty to undocumented immigrants.
President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he departs the White House on July 15, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he departs the White House on July 15, 2025 in Washington, DC. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration will release new rules and regulations on migrant farm labor, as the country’s need for workers and the food they help produce clashes with his vow to deport undocumented immigrants.
Trump said his administration will continue to deport criminals, but that he wants to “work with” farmers to find a solution for their workers, oftentimes immigrants who have lived in the country illegally for decades and are paying taxes. He suggested the White House was working on a touchback program for some workers, requiring them to leave the U.S. and reenter through a legal pathway, an idea that faces strong opposition among immigration hawks who view exceptions for one industry as a slippery slope.
“In some cases, we’re sending them back to their country with a pass back in legally…we’re sending them back and then they’re schooling, they’re learning, they’re coming in, they’re coming in legally. We have a lot of that going on, but we’re taking care of our farmers,” Trump said in an interview with CNBC. “We can’t let our farmers not have anybody.”
The policy debate has roiled the White House for months, as the president’s aides weigh ideas from across the administration. Officials are debating how to placate farmers’ need for migrant labor without appearing to offer amnesty to undocumented immigrants.
Administration officials have also discussed expanding access to the H-2A program for non-seasonal agricultural industries, like dairy, an issue that has long received Republican support — but it would fall short of replacing the estimated 320,000 undocumented farm workers already in the U.S. And any touchback program, or moves that provide these workers with a path to legal status, will be criticized by immigration hawks who view such exceptions as a form of amnesty.
Trump, who has appeared sympathetic to both farmers and immigration hawks, said Tuesday that the farm laborers aren’t easy to replace — an argument that runs up against critics’ argument that native-born workers could fill the jobs. The president said “people that live in the inner city” won’t do the work.
“They’ve tried. We’ve tried, Everybody’s tried. They don’t do it. These people do it naturally. Naturally,” Trump said. “I said ‘what happens’ — to a farmer the other day — ’what happens if they get a bad back?’ He said, ‘they don’t get a bad back, sir, because if they get a bad back, they die.’ I said, ‘that’s interesting.’ In many ways, they’re very very special people.”
Trump did not say who told him this.
Even legal, American farm workers in many states can legally be paid below the minimum wage.
Now, with illegals throughout, the norm is quasi-slave, terrible conditions and hours. That Trump wants to further that, through AMNESTY, is repulsive.
The truth is we now have the worst combination of RINO, neocon, “Gang of 8 style” touchback and unabashed amnesty in a disgusting Republican presidency. The Bushes look mild compared to this.
Why amnesty at all? Our working class has had their relative wages cut in half over the past 40 years. This just furthers it for large sectors.
Hiring a terminated Federal worker would have the same impact on the farm as firing three good farm hands....
The problem is a welfare system that does not reward work for citizens and allows people that are not citizens to scam the system. A guest worker program could work but can’t do it if it is better for our citizens to sit at home and collect so we don’t have enough workers. That would be for workers only and not entire families and children born to workers should not be granted birthright citizenship.
Completely ignoring the law now is definitely not working but I do think we will need some foreign unskilled labor but on a limited basis and not at the taxpayer expense.
These jobs aren’t “meant” for teenagers. Teenagers have NEVER had more than a seasonal, marginal share of the agricultural workforce. If summer jobs have been lost, that’s a shame, but they’ve never been central to food production. Even allowing for Operation Wetback in 1954, Mexicans legal and illegal have been central to field work.
And foreign workers, mostly illegal, fill a third to half of all meatpacking jobs and way more than that in dairy and pork processing.
The one constant in these jobs is that they are hard work and low-paying.
As an example, if you ship all the illegal apple-picker back to Mexico and Guatemala, most of domestic fruit would rot on trees.
Correct. And add poultry and egg farms to that.
Working on computers also builds character.
So working as a waitress doesn't build character? Climbing utility poles doesn't build character??
You have to work in a field to have good character. It's about choice.
Why work on a farm if you can work as an electricians apprentice...like my son in law.
Don’t we have enough prisoners who could do this ?
You can’t deny them medical care. The employer always provides it. These aren’t animals.
I was a waiter as well. I tried many jobs. The point here is that there are many opportunities just taken away from Americans by all these illegals and it’s a big fat lie that Americans won’t do that work. It’s always been a lie.
I suspect some inner city folks are willing, but have no access to the jobs available. If you live in the downtown of some city, how do you get to the distant fields every day?
Yes.
As a matter of fact, there exist machines which can replace most of this manual work.
But, they are expensive! Illegals are cheaper.
Time for the farmers to make investments!
Farm worker visas are common in all countries. So long as you vet the folks and make sure they leave, it works.
Yes...H2A program for agriculture does just what you said
Lots of young Americans would love to work on farms with fair wages, hours, and working conditions.
Many actually volunteer their work on organic farms: https://wwoof.net/
You’re pro-illegal farm labor?
**IF it is coupled with tighter administrative enforcement to ensure they do not overstay.**
Who guarantees the government does its job? Some house sub-committee?
NOOOOOOoooo! “but it would fall short of replacing the estimated 320,000 undocumented farm workers already in the U.S” who said? Where are those numbers from and how can anyone say they can’t be replaced within the H2A program? B.S.
You’ve just described the H2A program 😀
Plus, the more "makes sense" programs we have, the more likely it is that more members of Congress will support their enforcement.
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