By Ryan Hanrahan
Bloomberg’s Skylar Woodhouse reported that “President Donald Trump said he is looking to allow undocumented farm and hospitality industry workers to leave the US for a short period of time and reenter the country legally, a bid to address concerns about labor shortages from his crackdown on undocumented migration.”
“‘We’re going to work with people so that if they go out in a nice way, go back to their country, we’re going to work with them right from the beginning on trying to get them back in legally,’ Trump said Thursday during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, suggesting the framework would give better certainty to those seeking work and businesses eager to hire people legally in the country,” Woodhouse reported.
“Trump said he would work with business to protect needed workers, saying ‘we have to take care of our farmers and hotels and, you know, various, various places where they’re using, where they need the people,'” Woodhouse reported. “‘We’re also going to work with farmers that if they have strong recommendations for their farms for certain people, we’re going to let them stay in for a while and work with the farmers and then come back and go through a process, a legal process,’ Trump said.”
Progressive Farmer’s Chris Clayton reported that “a USDA Farm Labor Survey released in January pegged the percentage of undocumented agricultural workers at around 42%, or roughly 500,000 people, working in crops. A large share of those undocumented workers is also considered ‘settled’ instead of migrant workers.”
“To fill the void of assuring they have legal labor, farmers’ H-2A programs have grown in recent years and now fill more than 384,000 job positions. In the 2024 fiscal year, roughly 22,000 farms used H-2A guest workers,” Clayton reported. “One of the complications with that program, however, is the workers are considered temporary, so livestock farmers are typically unable to use the H-2A program.”
“Farm groups have been pressing Congress for years to pass legislation that would allow year-round guest workers. At least some of those bills also have included provisions that would legalize farm workers in the country who currently are undocumented,” Clayton reported. “The House passed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act in 2021, but it stalled in the Senate.”
Reuters’ Jeff Mason and Leah Douglas reported that “farm industry groups have warned that deporting large numbers of agricultural workers would grind the food system to a halt. In addition to farming, many workers without legal status are also employed in the meat and dairy industries. The White House and the Department of Agriculture did not respond to requests to clarify the policy or when it will be implemented.”
Agri-Pulse’s Steve Davies reported that “Chuck Conner, president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, praised the announcement.”
“‘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,’ Conner said in a statement,” according to Davies’ reporting. “‘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.'”
Source : illinois.edu