Ag Policy Blog

President Donald Trump acknowledged on Thursday that his administration's immigration enforcement has gone too far when it comes to farmers and other businesses, and he vowed to change that.

In a press conference, Trump suggested he would issue an order about farmers and their workers, as well as the hotel industry.

On social media, Trump said farmers are losing workers that are almost impossible to replace.

"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!"

It's the second time since mid-April that Trump has suggested there would be policy changes to protect farmers and their workers.

Chuck Conner, president of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, issued statement commending Trump for recognizing the importance of foreign-born farm workers.

"During his press briefing, he acknowledged that recent aggressive immigration enforcement is stripping farms of experienced labor that can't easily be replaced -- and he signaled that 'changes are coming' to strike a balance between protecting American farmers and targeting criminal elements.

"NCFC believes that the changes the President refers to must, at the end of the day, lead to the end of widespread enforcement actions on farms and at ag processing facilities that are not targeting violent criminals," Conner said.

Trump's latest comments on farmers and immigration come after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ramped up more arrests on farms. On Tuesday, ICE had enforcement actions on California produce farms. As the Los Angeles Times reported, ICE agents arrested workers in the fields in some cases. On Wednesday, strawberry fields and vegetable farmers ready for harvest, but largely empty of workers.

Meanwhile, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) had farm leaders from across the country on Capitol Hill this week to specifically talk about farm-labor challenges. Farmers from Alabama, New York and Oregon spoke to DTN on Thursday about their efforts to press Congress to take action. Each of the farmers said they had positive discussions with leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committee, the Department of Labor and USDA.

Right now, nothing is happening in Congress that would actually address farm labor. The Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2025 (H.R. 3227), which has passed the House in previous terms, was reintroduced on May 7 by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., with just five co-sponsors -- two Republicans and three Democrats.

While the House Agriculture Committee put out a bi-partisan blue-ribbon report on farm labor last year, just three members of the committee are co-sponsors on H.R. 3227. All three are California Democrats, Reps. Jim Costa, Adam Gray and David Valadao.

Members of the House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday also talked with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins about the issue. Rep. Don Davis, N.C., said farmers in his state struggle with the costs of the H-2A program and the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) that the Department of Labor uses to set wages.

Rollins said there are citrus producers in Texas paying $23 an hour for workers while Mexican growers are paying $2 an hour. She also said she recognizes the labor shortages farmers face. "This is unsustainable" Rollins said.

"We have to fix the H-2A program and ensure we can make certain our producers have the labor that they need to not only feed America, but the world."

Despite the raids now affecting more farm operations, Rollins said President Trump and other Cabinet members are trying to address the labor needs in agriculture.

Still, Rollins added, "Clearly the real reform needs to come from Congress."

There likely will be more enforcement at food-processing facilities as well. Those businesses wouldn't fall under any protection granted to farms, but the owner of the meat processing plant raided in Omaha also made it clear his company used the E-Verify system and that still didn't stop his facility from being raided. ICE later noted it detained 70 illegal aliens in the raid. See, "ICE Ramps Up Arrests With Raid at Nebraska Meat Plant, California Produce Farms," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

As DTN has noted, over the next few weeks we will publish a series of articles looking at farm labor issues that appeared in the summer issue of Progressive Farmer magazine.

"Farms Rely on H-2A Program to Fill Jobs as US Faces Reckoning Over Ag Labor," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

"Here Is What Farmers Need to Know to Navigate the H-2A Guest Worker Program," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @ChrisClaytonDTN

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