Anyone that knows anything about Donald Trump knows that Trump has waged an unrelenting war against immigrants. His attacks on immigrants is xenophobic. The Trump narrative is that immigrants are bad for America. Trump argues that in this time of economic strife, immigrants need not apply to come work in America because Americans deserve to be first in line for the jobs.
That is what Trump wants his voters to believe.
But here are the facts.
The Trump Administration is issuing H2a visas.
What are H2a visas, you ask? The H2a are visas issued to guest workers, immigrants who work the fields in American farmlands. They are work permits.
Readers are likely thinking, but Trump is ending that abuse. The Trump Administration said yesterday that they are protecting American jobs by curtailing the H2b visa. Did you notice not a word about the H2a visa?
Under Donald Trump the guest farmworker permits are not only still being issued, but their issuance has intensified under Trump.
You read that right, Donald Trump is not only issuing work permits to immigrant farmers, but he is also issuing more of them. The Trump Administration has labeled immigrant farmworkers “to be essential” and “vital to maintaining and securing the country’s critical food supply chain.”
In 2015, a little less than 120,000 farmworker visas were issued, according to the U.S. State Department. Last year, in 2019, the Trump Administration issued 257,000 visas to foreign workers to come work the fields in America. Trump’s work permits under this program doubled from 2014.
The national narrative is that immigrants do not benefit America. That immigrants cost American taxpayers. And, that immigrants take jobs Americans need.
Yet, Donald Trump has waged a war on immigrants and curtailed many types of access to immigrants who want to make America their new home. But, in the background, away from the eyes of Trump’s xenophobic base, Trump is issuing more work visas than any other administration in the past.
