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Administration says it will work with farmers to protect ag workforce

President Trump says he’s going to work with farmers to address labor shortages as his administration continues to ramp up deportations of undocumented immigrants.

The President made his comments during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday.  “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 legal process,” he says.

He told cabinet members that the administration must take care of the nation’s farmers. “So, a farmer will come in with a letter concerning certain people saying, ‘they’re great, they’re working hard’,” he says.  “We’re going to slow it down a little bit for them. And then we’re going to ultimately bring them back. They’ll go out, they’re going to come back as legal workers.”

Chuck Conner, president of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, says he looks forward to working with the administration to ensure that a plan works for all types of farmers and ranchers. Conner commends the President for recognizing the critical importance of foreign-born farm workers to American agriculture.

Foreign-born workers account for about 20 percent of the U.S. labor force. However, the USDA estimates that 70 percent of farm workers are immigrants and about 40 percent are undocumented.