Trump says migrant farmworkers can stay if employers "vouch" for them

President Trump has proposed allowing undocumented farmworkers to remain in the U.S. if their employers vouch for them.

Speaking at the “Salute to America” event in Des Moines, Iowa on July 3, he said, “Farmers, look, they know better. They work with them for years. You had cases where, not year, but just even over the years where people have worked for a farm, on a farm for 14, 15 years, and they get thrown out pretty viciously, and we can’t do it. We gotta work with the farmers, and people that have hotels and leisure properties, too.

He added, "We’re going to work with them, and we’re going to work very strong and smart, and we’re going to put you in charge. We’re going to make you responsible, and I think that that’s going to make a lot of people happy,” Trump said, acknowledging, “Serious radical-right people, who I also happen to like a lot, they may not be quite as happy. But they’ll understand.”

Trump stated that he would work with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to enable migrant laborers to stay provided farmers “vouch” for them. He emphasized his administration’s willingness to preserve the workforce essential to U.S. farms.

"If a farmer is willing to vouch for these people in some way, Kristi, I think we're going to have to just say that's going to be good, right?" he said. "We don't want to do it where we take all of the workers off the farms."

The proposal marks a shift from the formerly strict deportation approach — Trump acknowledged that pulling all migrant workers off farms could disrupt food supply chains

Around two weeks ago, Trump said he was open to adjusting his immigration stance to support U.S. farmers who rely on migrant labor, signaling a potential softening on an issue that has sparked concern in the agriculture industry.

"We're looking at doing something where, in the case of good, reputable farmers, they can take responsibility for the people that they hire and let them have responsibility, because we can't put the farms out of business," Trump told reporters on June 20. "And at the same time we don't want to hurt people that aren't criminals."