From NY Post: The Trump administration is launching a new visa program for migrant workers as farmers and hotel owners express concerns that their labor force is being threatened by the president’s mass deportation raids.
The Department of Labor’s newly-created Office of Immigration Policy will help fast track visas for foreign laborers — but the administration has made it clear that the initiative is “not amnesty” for illegal migrant workers, a senior administration official told Axios.
Migrants who are in the US illegally will not be eligible for the visa program and would-be foreign workers must apply from their home country before coming to the US legally, Axios reported, citing officials.
“This is not amnesty. It’s not amnesty lite,” an official told Axios.
“No one who is illegally here is being given a pathway to citizenship or residency.”
The details of the program are still unclear, but President Donald Trump had previously halted ICE raids at farms, hotels and restaurants under pressure from industry leaders.
“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,” Trump said in a Truth Social post in June. “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!”
