On Friday, President Donald Trump gave an update on assisting what he called “reputable farmers” amid sweeping U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation raids.
Trump suggested a change was on the way for undocumented immigrant farm workers, saying that farmers themselves may be able to take responsibility for them.
“We’re looking at doing something where in the case of good, reputable farmers, they can take responsibility for the people that they hire,” Trump told reporters on Friday afternoon. “Because we can’t put the farms out of business…I never want to hurt our farmers. And we can’t hurt the people who are not criminals. They keep up happy and healthy and fat.”
Why It Matters
Last week, Trump reportedly told ICE to pause most raids at agricultural facilities and hospitality venues. The pause came amid increasing concern that U.S. businesses were being harmed due to workers being detained and placed in removal proceedings. Large numbers of immigrants without legal status work in farming, hospitality, and health care.
What To Know
After the Department of Homeland Security issued a new directive instructing ICE agents to stop workplace raids, the policy was reversed on Monday, and the raids were resumed.
Trump’s promise of mass deportations has encountered logistical barriers, including a lack of resources across the DHS. In recent weeks, his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, has put pressure on the department to increase daily arrests to 3,000 per day.
The president’s message on Friday echoed similar sentiments to those he expressed on Truth Social just over a week earlier, when he said that farmers must be protected, while criminal immigrants had to be deported.
Trump said a solution was being worked on to give farmers—the employers—a role in their workers’ immigration status.
It was not immediately clear what that policy could be, but Representative Andy Harris, a Republican from Maryland, said Tuesday that work visas should be expanded to maintain the U.S. workforce.
Research has shown that the immigrant population has contributed to growth in the U.S. labor market in recent years, alongside an aging American-born population. The National Foundation for American Policy told Newsweek in October that workers were likely to be targeted by ICE to drive up deportation numbers, potentially leading to a large loss of productive labor.
Associated Press
What People Are Saying
American Business Immigration Coalition CEO Rebecca Shi, in a statement to Newsweek: “We appreciate that President Trump is listening to farmers and recognizes the critical role immigrant workers play in feeding our nation. Exploring solutions to ensure farmers have access to the essential workers they need is a step in the right direction. We look forward to collaborating on policies that support both our agricultural economy and the hardworking individuals who sustain it.”
Representative Andy Harris, speaking Tuesday: “There has to be an effort to figure out how to make sure that we have the workforce we need, whether it’s H-2A, H-2B, whether it’s, again, a different category that will result in having an adequate number of workers here in the United States to keep the economy going.”
Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told Newsweek on Monday: “The president himself is not a restrictionist. He’s not a low immigration guy. He’s a regular Republican, ‘legal good, illegal bad’ guy on immigration, but his voters are immigration restrictionists. In other words, regular voters who voted for Trump want less immigration overall. Not just illegal but legal, too.”
What Happens Next
While Trump suggested a solution was in the works, his previous call for a pause on raids was rolled back by the White House. It remains to be seen what will change when it comes to firm immigration policy.
Update 6/20/25, 5:32 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
