President Trump’s amnesty overlooks other industrious undocumented workers | Opinion
Does President Donald Trump even know what he’s doing on the immigration issue?
Alarmed that his supporters in agriculture and the hospitality industry are getting hit or about to be hit by his mass deportation order, Trump has backed down on social media.
“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,” the president posted on Truth Social last Friday.
Tatum King, a senior official with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, quickly followed orders with a directive. “Effective today, please hold on all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels.”
That means Trump has granted amnesty for an estimated 2 million undocumented residents, according to an estimate by National Review.
The United Farm Workers, however, is skeptical of Trump’s abrupt change on immigration enforcement. “We will believe it when we see it. In the meantime farm workers are defending themselves and their co-workers in real time, every day,” said UFW President Teresa Romero in a statement on Friday. “If President Trump truly cares, and is actually in charge, these raids would stop today, and everyone taken from the fields of California his week would be released to their families immediately.”
He knew farms would get hit
When President Donald Trump signed the Protecting the American People Against Invasion executive order on Jan. 20, he should have known his “greatest deportation in American history” would harm farmers and their field workers, especially in ag-rich California where agriculture drives a $59 billion business.
To the president’s surprise, the Department of Homeland Security’s recent crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the fields has generated pleas of help from farmers who voted for him knowing full well of Trump’s intentions. Never mind the uncertainty swirling around the Trump tariffs that could rival the $239 million loss California tree nut growers suffered from his first round of tariffs in 2018.
Now Trump wants to tighten the leash on federal agents whose presence in farms has been limited to reported sightings in strawberry fields in Ventura County. As a result, that county’s Farm Bureau reports that between 25% and 45% of farmworkers have not shown up for work since the raids began earlier this month.
“When our work force is afraid, fields go unharvested, packinghouses fall behind, and market supply chains, from local grocery stores to national retailers, are affected,” Ventura County Farm Bureau CEO Maureen McGuire told the Los Angeles Times. “This impacts every American who eats.”
It appears that farmers, who should have known better with their vote, have convinced the president that his deportation push is bad for their business. Disruptions like droughts, tariffs and disappearing work force have major impacts. In Fresno County, for example, 2023 crops generated a record $8.6 billion in production.
Deporting the 75% of California’s field workers who are undocumented would have severe consequences for all county residents. Every $1 generated by ag generates another $3.50 for the local and regional economy, according to the county. That means Fresno County’s economy got a $30.1 billion boost from ag in 2023.
Why should Trump decide who is protected?
We are concerned that Trump gets to choose and pick immigration winners and losers. Why should his amnesty overlook hard workers vital in other industries?
The construction industry relies on undocumented roofers, carpenters and cement finishers. About 23% of construction workers lacked legal status in 2021, according to the Center for American Progress. These workers and their families, the center said, pay $12.9 billion in federal taxes and $7.7 billion state and local taxes.
Aren’t they hard-working individuals and not part of Trump’s imagined migrant invasion?
If an undocumented resident is working, paying taxes and not committing crimes, they also deserve the right to benefit from Trump’s amnesty.
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This story was originally published June 16, 2025 at 12:01 PM.