US President Donald Trump has revealed plans to create a temporary visa program for undocumented immigrants employed in industries like farming and hospitality.
He made the revelation in a recent interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Trump said the goal is to give these workers a form of legal status that ensures they pay taxes and allows farmers to retain trusted employees, instead of losing them to immigration raids.
“We’re working on it right now,” Trump told Fox News. “We’re going to work it so that there’s some kind of a temporary pass where people pay taxes, where the farmer can have a little control, as opposed to you walk in and take everybody away.”
Trump described scenes where immigration officers have entered farms and detained workers who had been employed there for 15 or 20 years — people he said were “good” but had “possibly come in incorrectly.” He argued that it was unfair to destroy farmers’ livelihoods by removing the very people who kept their operations running.
“The farmer knows. He’s not going to hire a murderer,” Trump said. “When you go into a farm and he’s had somebody working with him for nine years doing this hard work, and you end up destroying a farmer because you took all the people away. It’s a problem.”
The Department of Homeland Security, however, maintained its tough stance in a statement repeated from earlier this month. “The President has been incredibly clear.
There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts,” the statement said. DHS added that worksite enforcement remains key to protecting public safety, national security and the economy.
The idea marks another shift in how Trump’s team is approaching undocumented workers, especially in agriculture and hospitality. Earlier this month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement temporarily paused worksite arrests in the farming, restaurant, and hotel sectors — responding to concerns from employers who said they were losing reliable long-time workers. But days later, that pause was lifted, and arrests resumed.
Trump himself has acknowledged the dilemma, posting on Truth Social that farmers and hotel owners told him immigration crackdowns were “taking very good, long-time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace.” He promised, “We must protect our Farmers… changes are coming.”
Back in April, Trump floated another idea: allowing undocumented workers employed on farms and in hotels to leave the country and return legally. Administration officials have also indicated he’s interested in strengthening the H-2A and H-2B visa programs, which let employers hire foreign workers temporarily.
While the White House has not released more details on the proposed temporary pass, Trump’s comments signal a possible softening for specific industries that heavily rely on immigrant labor — even as he continues to insist that anyone in the country illegally remains at risk of deportation.
For now, both workers and employers are watching closely to see if Trump’s words will turn into an actual policy that balances enforcement with the economic realities faced by farms and hotels across the country.
