The U.S. doesn’t have a program right now that would allow migrant workers to get a visa to work on a dairy farm year-round.
However, President Trump is reportedly open to changing that.
Agriculture is the largest private industry in the North Country, with a $1.7 billion impact on the region.
To keep up, workers play a big role, and many of them aren’t from the United States.
“I still believe to this day that if there’s a need for that type of employment on dairy farms, there should be a way for them to do that through a legal process,” said Tom Homan, President Trump’s border czar.
“They milk twice a day, 365 days a year. I understand that and growing up in farm country, I certainly understand that,” said Homan.
Reuters reports that President Trump is suggesting farmers could petition the federal government to keep some of their farm workers in the United States, provided the workers leave the country and come back with legal status.
According to the report, Trump made the suggestion last week at a Cabinet meeting.
A representative with the New York Farm Bureau and a dairy farmer, who asked to remain anonymous, says that’s a positive step.
“It’s uplifting for us because we’ve been advocating for some sort of program for dairy farm workers from out of country that would serve longer than the current H2-A program, which I think has a max of 10 months,” said the representative.
Immigration and dairy farms have become a hot-button topic since a criminal warrant was served at North Harbor Dairy in the town of Hounsfield. An alleged criminal was detained, but so were 7 others, described as illegal aliens.
A recent article out of Syracuse says Border Patrol agents are on a mission to prosecute every person who crosses the border illegally, not just those who pose a threat, alleging instances of undercover officers in ski masks showing up at dairy farms in unmarked cars.
Before that article was published, Homan continued to maintain the federal government is not raiding farms unless there’s a criminal.
“Some of the misinformation I see out there is officers going door-to-door looking for illegal aliens. False,” said Homan.
It’s unclear when or if any updates to H2-A will be made, or whether Trump’s suggestion will come to fruition.
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