Last month, the Trump administration Labor Department slapped a hold on Biden administration rules on H-2A visas, which allow U.S. farmers to hire foreign workers when they are unable to fill their jobs with Americans.
The H-2A rules were already stringent regarding requirements about pay and providing room and board and transportation to workers.
But the Biden administration, under the thumb of union pressure, added additional stringencies, allowing guest workers "collective action," giving unions access to pitch their line onsite and making it more difficult to fire workers.
Given that the whole idea of the H-2A is to provide a legal venue for farmers to employ foreign workers to do work in agriculture that Americans generally don't want to do, the H-2A visa provides an important venue to avoid employing illegal immigrants.
As things now stand, about 40% of the farm workforce are foreign-born illegal immigrants, and about another 20% foreign-born legal immigrants. So, the Labor Department move to put a hold on Biden H-2A rules makes sense.
But there has been pushback on this Labor Department initiative from other sources in the Trump administration who see any move making it easier to legally employ foreigners as against the grain of the America First idea.
It's put Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in an uneasy spotlight -- on the one side trying to help farmers do their business efficiently and deliver the lowest-cost crops to American consumers, but on the other hand comply with the America First spirit. Rollins has noted the goal of a 100% American workforce.
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By one estimate, there are 2.4 million farmworkers in the U.S. So, we may assume that we've got almost a million undocumented foreign farmworkers. Many have been doing this work for many years.
President Donald Trump understands that blanket deportation of these workers is questionable policy and has indicated that plans are in the works to allow employers to vouch for those who have been longtime steady workers in their businesses.
A new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas points to potential serious economic cost of mass deportation of these workers. Depending on the assumptions, the study shows mass deportation shaving around one percentage point off GDP.
Trump has shown that he is the final arbiter about what America First means. He demonstrated this in the critical support provided to Israel to complete the work of taking nuclear weapons out of the hands of the maniacs governing Iran. He is now taking steps to help Ukraine defend itself from another dangerous psycho-tyrant named Vladimir Putin.
We need similar judgement at home.
I reported recently about the dismal 58% of Americans who are proud or very proud of their country. We need to fix this by making American values the defining factor in America First.
America First cannot mean an America without immigration. As former Sen. Phil Gramm recently noted in the Wall Street Journal, "From 2000 to 2023, 40% of Nobel Prizes won by Americans in chemistry, medicine and physics were won by immigrants."
Let's fix our internal policies that encourage illegal immigration. One clear issue is getting rid of minimum wage laws that price Americans who actually might consider this farm work out of that market. Another is getting rid of Biden administration "loopholes" granting illegals special "legal status," thereby qualifying them for welfare benefits.
And let's purge the ugly tinge of racism that colors the voices of some America First enthusiasts. I will remind all of the infamous Dred Scott decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court deemed those in the country of African descent ineligible for citizenship.
Surely our great nation can design immigration rules that keep our gates of opportunity open in an orderly way to all those seeking a better life, while keeping out the scoundrels.
Maybe now is the time for OBBIB -- One Big Beautiful Immigration Bill.
Star Parker is founder of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. Her recent book, "What Is the CURE for America?" is available now.
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