Trump Highlights Economic Importance of Migrant Workers

Daily deportations are topping 1,100 per day as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) works to fulfill the Trump Administration’s promise of mass deportations of unauthorized immigrants who have been charged with crimes. However, recent statements from President Trump show a pragmatic nod to the economic importance of non-criminal migrant workers in the farming and hospitality industries and his potential willingness to offer some form of protection from deportation or work permits to long-time unauthorized immigrant workers without criminal records.

While a clear policy has yet to emerge, a solution to ID and tax long time unauthorized immigrants who can pass background checks would be welcomed by businesses in the agriculture, food processing, hospitality, and construction industries that are battling inflationary workforce shortages and rely on migrant workers.

On June 11, a group of Republican lawmakers, led by Tony Gonzales of Texas, sent a letter to president Trump urging his administration to prioritize enforcement operations for violent offenders, convicted criminal aliens, and national security threats instead of using limited resources to pursue individuals who do not constitute an immediate threat to public safety.

“Every minute that we spend pursuing an individual with a clean record is a minute less that we dedicate to apprehending terrorists or cartel operatives. We stand by President Trump to ensure our border security is restored. However, in order to truly claim success, we need to give absolute priority to every violent offender and convicted criminal illegal alien present in our nation," wrote the Republican lawmakers.

Federal statistics show that roughly half of the 59,000 migrants currently detained by ICE lack a criminal record.

On June 12, President Trump stated on Truth Social, “Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace. In many cases the Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy are applying for those jobs. This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!”

The same day, from the Oval Office, Trump reiterated that while he supports removing criminals, he wants to “protect our farmers”—not dismantle their workforce.

"Our farmers are being hurt badly. They have very good workers. They've worked for them for 20 years; they're not citizens, but they've turned out to be ... great, and we're going to have to do something about that,” said the president, noting that there would be a related order "pretty soon."

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall welcomed Trump’s comments, noting the potential for significant supply chain disruptions if migrant workers disappear.

 “We appreciate President Trump’s comments this afternoon recognizing the contributions of farmworkers who play a vital role in growing food across America, and committing to preserve the ability of farms to provide a safe and secure food supply. Farm employees work hard every day to help produce healthy, American-grown food. If these workers are not present in fields and barns, there is a risk of supply chain disruptions similar to those experienced during the pandemic,” said Duvall while calling on Congress to follow the President’s lead to develop a solution that fixes outdated and broken farmworker programs.

On June 13, a Trump Administration official ordered a pause on immigration-related raids at workplaces tailored to the agriculture, hotel, and restaurant industries, but by June 16, DHS had reversed the pause. On June 19, border czar Tom Homan stated that ICE would continue to do worksite raids but on a targeted basis, and that Congress needs to address migrant workers.

"We're going to continue to do worksite enforcement operations, even on farms and hotels, but based on a prioritized basis. Criminals come first. There's a right way and wrong way to hire workers. There are legal programs that bring farm workers in. Second of all, I've been saying for years, Congress needs to address this. But because Congress failed, it just doesn't mean we ignore it. It's illegal to knowingly hire an illegal alien," said Homan.

Then, on June 20, President Trump again made comments that suggest he is against deporting long-time unauthorized immigrant workers and in favor of creating some kind of solution to allow them to remain in the U.S. and legally work, possibly through an executive order.

“We're looking at doing something where in the case of good, reputable farmers, they can take responsibility for the people that they hire, and let them have responsibility, because we can't put the farms out of business, and at the same time, we don't want to hurt people that aren't criminals," Trump told reporters after arriving at a New Jersey airport. "You've had people that have worked on farms for 20 years, it's very hard to go in there and say, you know, 'you're coming out.' But we're going to let the farmers take responsibility, they're great people, they'll do it, they know the good and the bad. I never want to hurt our farmers. Our farmers are great people. They keep us happy and healthy and fat," Trump said.

Trump’s recent remarks and actions reflect an attempt to thread two agendas: aggressive enforcement against criminal unauthorized immigrants, while offering conditional relief or stability for non-criminal migrants vital to agriculture and hospitality.

If there’s one issue that Trump cares more about than border security, it’s the economy, and the economy and immigration are closely intertwined. With the U.S. at near record low unemployment and birth rate, there are simply not enough workers available to fill the jobs required to provide Americans with affordable services and food and to maximize economic growth. Time will tell if President Trump will be able to balance strong border security with sensible and pro-economic immigration policy.

At a June 24 Congressional hearing, Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell said the Trump administration’s deportation policies are one of the reasons U.S. economic growth has slowed.

“There are two things that affect growth,” said Powell. “One is growth in the labor force, more people working, and the other thing is productivity, how much do they produce per hour of work. And when you significantly slow the growth of the labor force, you will slow the growth of the economy…I think that growth will slow and actually is slowing this year, and that’s one of the reasons.” said Powell

While the Trump Administration has made great strides towards securing the border, permanent workforce-friendly immigration policy changes will require a bipartisan act of Congress.

One existing piece of legislation, The Farm Workforce Modernization Act, introduced by Republican Representative Dan Newhouse, could be a step in the right direction.  

Republican Representative Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida is also planning to introduce bipartisan immigration legislation soon, perhaps an updated version of the Dignity Act.

A bipartisan solution to ID and Tax longtime unauthorized immigrants with clean criminal records would help to increase economic growth and real wages and to reduce inflation. Such a policy would also increase federal revenues without raising taxes on citizens.

President Trump can and should lead on this issue. His recent statements provide hope.