The Trump administration is launching a new visa program for migrant workers as farmers and hotel owners express concerns that their labor force is being threatened by the president’s mass deportation raids.
The Department of Labor’s newly-created Office of Immigration Policy will help fast track visas for foreign laborers — but the administration has made it clear that the initiative is “not amnesty” for illegal migrant workers, a senior administration official told Axios.
“This is not amnesty. It’s not amnesty lite,” the official told the publication. “No one who is illegally here is being given a pathway to citizenship or residency.”
Migrants who are in the US illegally will not be eligible for the visa program and would-be foreign workers must apply from their home country before coming to the US legally, Axios reported, citing officials.
The Office of Immigration Policy will attempt to cut through regulations the Labor Department argues the Biden administration used as incentives for employers to hire illegal immigrants.
It’s unclear how the Trump administration intends to expedite the visas for migrant workers.
To hire foreign, seasonal agricultural workers via H-2A visas, farmers must show that there’s a lack of qualified local employees to fill the roles, according to the Department of Labor.
President Trump last month halted ICE raids at farms, hotels and restaurants after industry leaders raised some issues stemming from the administration’s immigration crackdown.
The employers, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, shared that his “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,” Trump wrote. “This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!”
One Trump advisor told Axios that the post served as “the bat signal to ICE” to “leave the farmers alone.”
ICE raids on farms, hotels and restaurants have since resumed.
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, said that farmers dug themselves into a hole by not taking Trump’s threats of carrying out a historic deportation campaign seriously.
“They should have known this was coming,” Krikorian told The Post.
“That’s not the way it has to be done. That is the business model they have followed. And they should have known eight months ago that they needed to start making adjustments,” said Krikorian.
Krikorian said these farmers have access to the “unlimited” H-2A visa program for agricultural workers, but didn’t want to shell out the extra cash to provide required wages.
He added: “It’s an unlimited program, but it has certain requirements related to pay and transportation and housing. And the farmers just want to not bother. Well, sorry, but they’ve had eight months to work with companies that actually arrange the H-2A process.”
The Department of Labor didn’t immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
