Trump to Farm Workers: Fly Home and Fly Back

“But what about the farm workers?” 

It’s a question all too familiar to the agriculture industry. And with the Trump administration, it’s been top of mind for months.

But President Trump says there will be a new program set up to help legalize farm workers and reduce the risk of farmers and ranchers losing their “undocumented workers” in mass deportations. 

Tell us more: Undocumented workers would be able to self-deport and return to the country legally, according to Trump. He said it gives them an incentive to come back legally and identify themselves under the Alien Registration Act with the U.S. Customs and Border Control. 

The catch: They must do it within a certain timeframe, which would likely be 60 days. It’s also important to note that no program details have been finalized at this point.

Soundbite: “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.” — American Farm Bureau Federation president Zippy Duvall

By the numbers: Approximately 42% of all farm workers lack legal documentation. By some accounts this number could be as high as 60%.

In California, fieldworkers quit showing up for citrus harvest after reports of federal agents going after farmworkers. Manuel Cuhna Jr. of the Nisei Farmers League in California, an organization supporting immigration reform, said social media posts were spreading “outright lies” about these raids.

Border czar Tom Homan said the federal government is not raiding farms unless someone has committed a crime. 

Meanwhile, dairies in New York rely on migrant workers to get their work done. Dairy has a $1.7B impact in the North Country, a region in upstate New York. 

Soundbite: “I still believe to this day that if there’s a need for that type of employment on dairy farms, there should be a way to do that through a legal process.” — Homan