Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics, University of California
President Trump and Farm Labor: The Outlook
Philip Martin and Zach Rutledge
During the 2024 presidential
campaign, Donald Trump prom-
ised to stop illegal migration over
the Mexico-U.S. border and to
deport many of the unauthorized
foreigners in the United States.
What could a second Trump term
mean for U.S. farm employers and
farmworkers? With few prospects
for legalizing the third of U.S.
farmworkers who are unautho-
rized, farm employers may replace
deported workers with H-2A guest
workers. The overall effect of the
Trump administration's migration
policies may be to raise farm
labor costs and accelerate trends
already underway, i.e., mechaniz-
ing hand labor tasks, hiring legal
guest workers, and importing more
fresh fruits and vegetables from
lower-wage countries.
https://s.giannini.ucop.edu/uploads/pub/2025/02/27/v28n3_2.pdf