Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called for hard-nosed enforcement of immigration laws, saying that, if becomes president, anyone in the United States illegally would be subject to deportation and the sole path to citizenship would be “to return home and apply for re-entry.” Only those likely to flourish would be welcome. Trump’s 10-step plan was strikingly similar to a position paper released months ago by his campaign and a rebuttal to speculation that his stance on immigration has softened.
Hours after meeting Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico City, Trump told a rally in Phoenix, Arizona, “Number One, we will build a great wall along the southern border. And Mexico will pay for the wall, 100 percent.” Trump said he would give top priority to removing criminal aliens from the United States, but “anyone who entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation.” There would be “extreme vetting,” he said, of applicants for immigration to assure that they share U.S. beliefs.
Trump called for wide use of E-verify, an electronic system to confirm if someone can be employed legally, to reduce the lure of U.S. jobs. Agricultural groups have expressed concern in the past about the accuracy of the system and if it could respond quickly when a grower might need to hire dozens of workers at dawn when crops need harvesting.
Half or more of farmworkers are believed to lack work authorization. Farm groups have supported comprehensive immigration reform as a way to assure a stable and legal workforce. They also have urged an approach that would grant legal status to undocumented workers.
Agricultural groups also say the guest worker program run by the Labor Department should be overhauled so it is easier to bring seasonal workers into the country when they are needed. In late June, the American Farm Bureau Federation said farmers in at least 22 states complained that workers under the H-2A visa program arrived days or weeks late for fruit and vegetable harvest this summer.
“Agriculture’s crisis must be addressed through legislative reform which includes an adjustment for current agricultural workers who lack proper work authority and a new guest worker program to meet future needs,” says the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives in a statement of position. “U.S. agriculture faces a critical shortage of workers every year … ”
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton says she supports immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship. Trump says Clinton’s plan is “let everyone come and destroy our country.”