President Donald Trump Thursday promised to slow the deportation of immigrant farm and hotel workers to allow relief to farmers and hotel operators who employ people who lack legal status to be in the United States.
"We have to take care of our farmers, their hotels and, you know, various, various places where they're usually, where they need the people," Trump said during a meeting with his Cabinet, reports ABC News.
He added that farmers have often spoken out about their workers.
"A farmer will come in with a letter concerning certain people saying they're great, they're working hard," said Trump. "We're going to slow 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."
According to federal statistics, more than two-thirds of the workers on U.S. farms are foreign-born, reports CBS News.
Many are in the United States through the use of H-2A visas, but U.S. officials said that 42% of the workers are undocumented migrants.
Last week, managers of the nation's farms, resorts, racetracks, and more spoke out after the administration had not yet released H-2B visas needed for seasonal businesses that depend on foreign workers.
"It needs to be done by April 1, otherwise we all get backed up," Greg Chiecko, the president of the Outdoor Amusement Business Association, an organization representing traveling carnival owners, told The New York Times. "We've heard that they're going to, but they're being very deliberate in waiting a little bit."
The administration said in a news release last week that the visas would come out in time for businesses that need them for the summer.
But with the administration ramping up deportations and moving to end the legal status of millions of people who arrived in recent years, employers are saying they are concerned about their labor supply.
The American Business Immigration Coalition, which represents employers of immigrants, has called on Congress to take action, saying that illegal migration can be stopped while action is taken to bring people in legally and give those already in the country a way to stay.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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