US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, while speaking about the impact of his administration’s immigration policies on the agricultural sector, claimed undocumented migrants are more “naturally” inclined to perform hard labor — a statement that many have condemned as racist and dehumanising.During an interview with CNBC, addressing the impact of his immigration policies on American agriculture, Trump acknowledged the difficulty farmers are facing in finding labor amid ongoing deportation efforts. “We can’t let our farmers not have anybody,” he said.He suggested that, while deportations would continue, some undocumented farm workers might be allowed to return legally under a “touchback” plan. “In some cases, we’re sending [migrants] back to their country with a pass back in legally.”“These [are] people that you can’t replace them very easily — you know, people that live in the inner city are not doing that work. They’re just not doing that work. And they’ve tried — we’ve tried, everybody tried. They don’t do it. These people do it naturally, naturally,” he added.Trump also recalled a recent conversation with a farmer about the physical demands of the job. “I said, ‘What happens if they get it — to a farmer the other day — what happens if they get a bad back?’ He said, ‘They don’t get a bad back, sir, because if they get a bad back, they die.’ … You know, in many ways they’re very, very special people.”The remarks come as the White House continues to wrestle with how to address the agricultural sector’s reliance on undocumented workers without angering immigration hardliners.Officials are reportedly exploring ways to expand the H-2A visa program to year-round agricultural industries like dairy. But that change would fall short of covering the estimated 320,000 undocumented farm workers already in the US, reported Politico.Proposals like the touchback program are also drawing criticism from immigration hawks who oppose any form of legal return or special carveouts for specific industries, viewing them as a slippery slope toward amnesty
