President Trump Risks Falling into the Amnesty Trap

During the 2024 presidential campaign, President Donald J. Trump repeatedly told Americans that his administration would carry out mass deportations and always put Americans First. Millions of voters took him at his word. However, six months in, the president is now expressing concerns about the impact that mass deportations will have on the agricultural and hospitality segments of the economy and he is now proposing a qualified form of amnesty for illegal aliens and their employers.

According to statements made in an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo and in comments made at other venues, the president is considering giving the employers of illegal aliens in the agricultural and hospitality sectors a level of control over who is swept up in workplace enforcement actions. Under this notional plan, illegal alien workers would receive a temporary pass to remain in the United States. Later they would leave the country and then be given a means to legally return.  

The president’s consideration of some type of amnesty for at least some illegal aliens is especially troubling since the vast majority of working illegal aliens are not only are unlawfully in the United States but they are also committing multiple, job-related felonies — document fraud/forgery, perjury on I-9 forms and identity theft. These felony crimes do very real harm to American citizens who, according to an ICE press release, “face devastating financial, emotional and legal consequences.” Illegal aliens also harm American workers by driving down wages and taking jobs that Americans will do.

So as difficult as it may be, President Trump must always do what is right by putting all Americans First — American victims of illegal-alien-driven ID theft First, American workers First, American taxpayers First, American employers who do not hire illegal aliens First. And he must never delegate any type of decision-making authority to employers who are unlawfully benefiting from low-cost, readily exploited, illegal-alien labor. In fact, he should require all employers to enroll in the IMAGE program, reinstate Social Security No-Match letters, mandate the use of E-Verify, and require all employers to pay their foreign labor a living wage and full benefits.

Starting Strong with the Focus on All-Inclusive Mass Deportations

It is important to remember that one of the president’s first executive orders, Protecting the American People Against Invasion, focused on deporting millions of illegal aliens. This included the “millions of illegal aliens who crossed our borders or were permitted to fly directly into the United States on commercial flights and allowed to settle in American communities, in violation of longstanding Federal laws.”

Furthermore, according to the executive order:

Many of these aliens unlawfully within the United States present significant threats to national security and public safety, committing vile and heinous acts against innocent Americans.  Others are engaged in hostile activities, including espionage, economic espionage, and preparations for terror-related activities.  Many have abused the generosity of the American people, and their presence in the United States has cost taxpayers billions of dollars at the Federal, State, and local levels.

 In compliance with that executive order, the borders were sealed and deportations were ramped up. Priority was given to the prosecution of criminal offenses related to the unlawful presence of aliens in the United States. Individuals unlawfully in the country were ordered to comply with existing law and to register their presence in the United States. Failure to register was to be treated as a civil and criminal enforcement priority.  In addition, agreements were signed with state and local law enforcement officials allowing them to perform the functions of immigration officers and aliens unlawfully in the United States, including those subject to removal orders, were offered incentives to voluntarily depart.

The Amnesty Trap

Unfortunately, as early as April 10, 2025, President Trump was being drawn into the amnesty trap that was apparently set by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. In a little noted statement during a cabinet meeting, he recognized the dependency of some agricultural and hospitality employers on low-cost, readily exploitable, illegal labor.

During a back-and-forth in that cabinet meeting with Rollins and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Trump said that farmers, hotels and various other businesses that rely on immigrant labor would be given a way to retain certain of their best illegal alien workers by allowing them to stay for a while, eventually go out in a nice way and then come back legally which is very reminiscent of the failed 1986, Reagan amnesty. Secretary Rollins responded, “That’s incredible.”

TRUMP: And we’re going to work with people so that if they go out in a nice way —  

NOEM: Mm-hmm. That’s right.

TRUMP:  —  and go back to their country, we’re going to work with them, right from the beginning, on trying to get them back in legally.

NOEM: That’s right.

TRUMP: Is that right?

NOEM: They’ll get the chance to come back.

TRUMP: So it gives you a real incentive. Otherwise, they never come back.

NOEM: That’s right.

TRUMP: They’ll never be allowed once a certain period of time goes by, which is probably going to be 60 days. We’re also going to work with farmers that, if they have strong recommendations for their farms for certain people, we’re going to let them stay in for a while and work with the farmers, and then come back and go through a process — a legal process.

ROLLINS: Thank you, sir.

TRUMP: But we have to take care of our farmers and hotels and, you know, various — various places where they’re used — where they need the people. And we’re going to be working with you very carefully on that.

ROLLINS: Yes, sir.

TRUMP: So a farmer will come in with a letter concerning certain people, saying they’re great, they’re working hard. We’re going to slow it down a little bit for them, and then we’re going to ultimately bring them back. They’ll go out. They’re going to come back as legal workers.

ROLLINS: Yes.

TRUMP: Okay?

ROLLINS: Yes, sir. Thank you.

TRUMP: Which I think will be a — I think it’s very important to do.

ROLLINS: That’s incredible.

Two months later, on June 12, 2025, the President repeated largely the same thing in a widely read Truth Social Post:

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. 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!

Although fully consistent with what President Trump had said in the April 10 cabinet meeting, this time the president’s statement was widely reported by the media and, on the same day as the Truth Social post, a senior ICE official issued a directive that placed a hold on work site enforcement investigations/operations that impact agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants, and operating hotels.

According to the directive, investigations involving human trafficking, money laundering, and drug smuggling are okay; however, “non-criminal collaterals” who are not known to have committed any crime are not to be arrested — even though illegal aliens routinely commit multiple felonies in order to obtain employment. This includes document fraud (fake visas and green cards, phony drivers licenses, bogus Social Security cards), perjury on I-9 forms and identity theft when illegal aliens use Americans’ personal identifying information, including Social Security numbers, for employment purposes.

Under the directive, illegal aliens and their employers would be granted amnesty from a wide range of both state and federal crimes.

• Amnesty from illegal entry or overstaying a visa
• Amnesty from felony identity theft
• Amnesty from felony forgery and document fraud
• Amnesty from felony perjury on I-9 forms
• Amnesty for employers knowingly hiring illegal aliens through the I-9 process and for employers hiring illegal aliens off the books
• Amnesty for employers who did not withhold and/or submit payroll taxes for individuals illegally in the United States
• Amnesty for employers who violated labor laws by paying unfair wages
• Amnesty for employers who facilitated Social Security fraud and identity theft by providing and/or knowingly accepting false Social Security numbers

The directive raised the ire of the president’s base and that of certain key officials in his administration. On June 19, border czar Tom Homan said that ICE would continue to carry out worksite enforcement actions in the agriculture and hospitality sectors.

However, the next day, June 20, in New Jersey the president was quoted as saying:

We’re looking at doing something where, in the case of good reputable farmers, they can take responsibility for the people that they hire and let them have responsibility because we can’t put the farms out of business.

Then on June 29, he reiterated and expanded on his support for farmers when he told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo:

I don’t back away. What I do have, I cherish our farmers. And when we go into a farm and we take away people that have been working there for 15 and 20 years, who are good, who possibly came in incorrectly, and what we’re going to do is we’re going to do something for farmers where we can let the farmer sort of be in charge.

The farmer knows he’s not going to hire a murderer. But, you know, when you go into a farm and he’s had somebody working with him for nine years doing this kind of work, which is hard work to do, and a lot of people aren’t going to do it. And you end up destroying a farmer because you took all the people away. It’s a problem.

You know, I’m on both sides of the thing. I’m the strongest immigration guy that there’s ever been, but I’m also the strongest farmer guy that there’s ever been. And that includes also hotels and, you know, places where people work. A certain place, group of people work.

So we’re going to. We’re working on it right now. We’re going to work it so that 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. But no, I want. The criminals are going out of this country.

 But can farmers, who have violated immigration and labor laws for years, really be trusted to police themselves? Farmers have hired illegal aliens using fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers for years or have illegally paid their workers off the books. And, as the president knows, farmers do actually hire murderers. In fact, when an illegal alien dairy worker killed a young woman in Iowa in 2018, President Trump told a crowd in Charleston, W.Va.:

You heard about today with the illegal alien coming in, very sadly, from Mexico and you saw what happened to that incredible, beautiful young woman. Should’ve never happened. Illegally in our country. 

According to the Associated Press, the employer of the murderer said that he was a “an employee in good standing” so can we really count on farmers to be in charge of weeding out the murders, identity thieves, and other criminals?

Yarrabee Farms, a family-owned company that operates dairy farms in the rolling hills outside Brooklyn, said that Rivera [the Iowa murderer] had been an employee in good standing for four years and that it was shocked to learn he was implicated in the crime. The company is owned by the family of Craig Lang, a prominent Republican who previously served as president of the Iowa Farm Bureau.

In another instance, a twice-deported illegal alien who had been working on a dairy farm murdered a deputy sheriff in Utah. The fact is that most illegal aliens who commit crimes, in urban and rural areas, are also employed.

This move to grant amnesty to agricultural and hospitality workers and their employers reveals the difficult task the president faces when it comes to managing disagreements between key staff, keeping the coalition that makes up his MAGA base intact, and putting those innocent Americans First who are the victims of illegal immigrants.

A very large segment of his base voted for, and continues to support, him because of his promise of mass deportations; however, they do not support giving any groups of illegal aliens or their employers amnesty and that includes turning amnesty determinations over to farmers.

In addition to the president’s MAGA base, millions of American men, women, and children whose Social Security numbers are illegally used by illegal aliens to obtain jobs object to the president granting amnesty to the very individuals who have seriously harmed them and their kids — including farm and hotel workers. They also object to granting amnesty to the employers who accept these stolen identities and who openly acknowledge relying on illegal labor.

On the other hand, the president’s amnesty proposal is supported by the agricultural industry, which makes up a key segment of the MAGA base, along with those in the hospitality industry that the president has a strong affinity for. In addition, Chamber of Commerce Republicans who benefit from low-cost, easily exploited illegal labor support the president when it comes to amnesty.

Employers Must Not Be Delegated Immigration Authority

Giving employers the right to determine which of their employees will be exempt from ICE enforcement actions and who will be able to leave the country and return as part of an amnesty program gives them inordinate power over their employees. Under this proposal, the employers of illegal aliens would be given great latitude in how they treat their employees since no employee will dare cross their employer out of fear of being removed from the list of protected employees. In fact, this proposal risks increasing the abuse that illegal aliens already suffer at the hands of employers who pay substandard wages, provide no benefits, and who are able to hold the workers’ immigration status over their heads to render them virtually indentured servants.

In addition, by delegating authority to individuals who knowingly employ illegal aliens — otherwise why would they be so concerned with deportations? — the president is granting them amnesty from violating the law and rewarding them by putting them in charge of immigration decisions.

President Trump Must Put Americans First

Despite the challenges facing employers who have grown accustomed to employing easily exploited, low-cost, illegal labor, President Trump must put the interests of millions of American men, women, and children first.

The president must hold every illegal alien who has unlawfully entered the U.S. fully accountable for disrespecting and violating America’s laws regardless of who they are employed by. In addition, he must hold every illegal alien using an innocent American’s fraudulently obtained Social Security number for employment purposes, as well as their employers who accept those numbers, fully accountable, both criminally and civilly, for the very real harm that they have inflicted on innocent American men, women, and children — liability for unpaid taxes on income earned on the Americans’ Social Security numbers, arrest records attached to those numbers, corrupted medical records, destroyed credit, denial of means-tested benefits, emotional distress, career hopes dashed, etc. And then the president must deport the illegal aliens.

The real life impact of illegal-alien-driven, job-related identity theft at just one meat processing plant, Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha, include: 

• A healthcare provider was forced to deny medically necessary prescriptions to a victim in Pennsylvania after his identity was stolen by a Glenn Valley Foods employee.

• A disabled victim in Texas, who was unable to work, struggled to get their Social Security disability payments because an illegal alien was fraudulently using their identity and earning wages at Glenn Valley Foods.

• The IRS requested a victim in Colorado to repay more than $5,000 after their income was falsely increased due to an illegal alien stealing their identity and using it to work at Glenn Valley Foods.

• A full-time nursing student from Missouri lost their college tuition assistance because it was fraudulently reported that they earned too much money. The investigation revealed that an illegal alien at Glenn Valley Foods was using their Social Security number for employment. The same victim was also unable to renew their Missouri driver’s license, until HSI contacted the Department of Motor Vehicles on their behalf, because the alien who stole her identity has multiple unpaid traffic violations.

• A victim in California has been working for nearly 15 years to regain their identity and fix the financial damage done by an illegal alien who was working at Glenn Valley Foods.

In order to put Americans first, the president must require all employers to enroll in the IMAGE program which includes a Form I-9 inspection to ensure that the employer currently has a fully legal workforce. In addition, as part of the IMAGE program employers agree to use E-Verify for all new hires.

Even though E-Verify can be defeated when an illegal alien uses an American adult’s total identity (full name, birthdate, and Social Security number), it will stop the vast majority of job-related identity theft that occurs when illegal aliens use Americans’ fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers with their own names and dates of birth because all of the data points won’t line up. E-Verify also stops all job-related, child identity theft because, even if an individual has the child’s total identity, they won’t be able to use the birthdate since employers do not hire infants or toddlers.

Next, the president must require the Social Security Administration (SSA) to once again send out no-match letters whenever the name and Social Security number being used for employment purposes do not match. Employers receiving a no-match letter must either rectify the error when possible, or failing that, terminate the employee who is using a Social Security number that does not belong to them. SSA should also be required to turn the names of those using fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers over to the Justice Department and to ICE. In addition, the SSA should be required to turn individuals using another person’s name, date of birth and Social Security number over to the DOJ and to ICE.

Furthermore, the president must ensure that the employers of foreign workers are no longer able to socialize their costs while privatizing the profits by paying low wages without benefits to illegal aliens and then passing the social welfare, health care, and other costs on to American taxpayers. This means that employers of non-citizens must be required to pay both their legal and illegal foreign employees a living wage, provide them with full benefits (health care, a 401K, workers comp, family and vacation leave, etc.), collect and remit full payroll taxes, and offset the additional costs imposed on taxpayer funded public education by their employees’ non-English speaking children.

Finally, all employers should be required to post a bond for each of their foreign workers. That bond would be forfeited if the foreign national employee did not depart the United States when their visa expired, if their legal employment was terminated early for cause, or if the employee was served with a deportation order.

Conclusion

The president knew going in that mass deportations would be a huge challenge. However, he promised to put America and Americans First. Therefore, he must make the well-being of American citizens his top priority, while holding illegal aliens and their employers fully accountable for the harm that they have done and are doing to millions of innocent American men, women, and children. Only after he has fully accomplished that should he address any legitimate needs of employers for legally employed foreign national workers.