WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said in an interview on Fox News that the administration is working to develop a temporary pass for immigrants who work in certain industries, which would mark the latest shift in the administration’s approach to immigration enforcement for farmworkers.
“We’re working on it right now. We’re going to work it so that some kind of a temporary pass where people pay taxes, where the farmer can have a little control, as opposed to you walk in and take everybody away,” Trump said in an interview that taped Friday and aired Sunday on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
The president referenced authorities going to farms and taking “away people that have been working there for 15 and 20 years, who are good, who possibly came in incorrectly.”
“What we’re going to do is we’re going to do something for farmers, where we can let the farmer sort of be in charge. The farmer knows. He’s not going to hire a murderer,” Trump said. “When you go into a farm and he’s had somebody working with him for nine years doing this kind of work, which is hard work to do, and a lot of people aren’t going to do it, and you end up destroying a farmer because you took all the people away. It’s a problem.”
Reached for comment, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security provided the same comment given by the department earlier this month after the White House reversed a plan to limit immigration enforcement activity at certain industry workplaces.
“The President has been incredibly clear. There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts,” the statement read.
“Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safeguard public safety, national security and economic stability. These operations target illegal employment networks that undermine American workers, destabilize labor markets and expose critical infrastructure to exploitation,” the statement continued.
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for further details on Trump’s plan and whether DHS’ response conflicted with the temporary pass plan.
The move marks the latest shift in the administration’s handling of immigrant farmworkers. The White House has waffled in recent weeks on whether to exempt certain worksites from Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
Trump said in a post to Truth Social on June 12 that farmers and people in the hotel and leisure industries said that the administration’s immigration policy “is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace.” The president said that “we must protect our Farmers,” adding that “changes are coming.” NBC News previously reported that at around the same time, ICE paused worksite arrests at agriculture, restaurant and hotel industries.
But just days later, the administration reopened arrests of immigrant workers in these industries. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at DHS, provided the same statement then as the DHS statement on Sunday.
“The President has been incredibly clear. There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts,” McLaughlin said after DHS reversed the pause earlier this month.
A White House spokesperson said after the pause reversal that Trump “remains committed to enforcing federal immigration law — anyone present in the United States illegally is at risk of deportation.”
Trump in April previously floated the idea that undocumented people working at farms and hotels could be allowed to leave the country and return legally. NBC News previously reported that an administration official said Trump wanted to improve H-2A and H-2B programs, which allow employers to temporarily hire migrant workers.
Caroline Kenny, Gabe Gutierrez and Suzanne Gamboa contributed.
