The Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee said he is open to expanding farming work visas for migrants, signaling a shift in his policy stance.
In a notable change from previous rhetoric, Republican Tennessee Representative Mark Green appears to have softened his tone on visas for migrants and suggested a more flexible approach.
Green told The Tennessean that he supports increasing “farm visas,” a temporary work visa available to farmers who can’t find domestic employees.
“We have to secure our country’s border. When we do that, let’s sit down and talk,” Green said of reaching across the aisle on immigration solutions. “And I’m open to increasing the farm visas, but there has to be a legal way of doing it. And again, it needs to be merit- and skill-based.”
Green is seeking reelection in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, which he has represented since 2018.
Rep. Mark Green during a House hearing at the U.S. Capitol on January 10. Green told a Tennessee newspaper that he supports increasing farm visas for farmers who want to hire migrant workers.
Kent Nishimura/Getty
Despite a hardline approach towards immigration, the shift in tone suggests that Republicans are concerned about the future of the farming industry.
Supporting more visas would allow farmers to legally hire workers while maintaining oversight and regulation.
However, expanding these visa programs would also require careful management of immigration policies, including ensuring workers’ rights and fair wages while responding to concerns about unauthorized immigration.
Farmers, especially in industries like fruit and vegetable harvesting, often rely on immigrant labor due to the demanding nature of the work and the difficulty of finding domestic workers willing to take the jobs.
Immigration and border security are among the most hotly contested topics in this year’s election cycle.
In recent days, former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, has increased calls for mass deportations, a proposal that Green, according to The Tennessean, said he couldn’t comment on until he had the opportunity to study it further.
However, Green expressed support for “some deportations” to remove immigrants with criminal records.
Green’s comments come after experts warned Trump’s proposed mass deportation policy could cut the agricultural labor force in half if enacted and severely cripple America’s dairy industry.
Nearly half of agricultural workers in the U.S. are undocumented immigrants, and Trump’s controversial plan creates major obstacles for America’s farmers.
Some 45 percent of all agricultural workers in the U.S. today, 950,000 of an estimated 2.2 million farmworkers, are “unauthorized” migrants working illegally on American farms and ranches.
The future of America’s agricultural industry may hinge on Trump’s mass deportation policy, as experts have warned the farming industry would be “hard hit” if plans are carried out.
A painting of an American flag is seen on a barn at dusk near Polk City, Iowa. Supporting more visas would allow farmers to legally hire workers while maintaining oversight and regulation.
Patrick Semansky/AP
Jason Greer, MSW, a former board agent with the National Labor Relations Board, told Newsweek that Trump’s plans would have a “disastrous” impact on the agricultural industry.
“Trump’s plan to potentially deport between 15 million and 20 million undocumented citizens will have a disastrous impact not only on the agricultural industry but any industry that relies on nontrade workers,” Greer said.
“The idea that deporting illegal workers to free up jobs for natural-born citizens may work in terms of galvanizing voters, but history has clearly shown that the opposite may occur.
“For example, former Presidents Bush and Obama deported close to 500,000 undocumented citizens between 2008 and 2014 under the Secure Communities initiative. Instead of helping U.S. employees, we quickly discovered that mass deportation hurt the least educated U.S. workers.
“When there is a significant reduction in labor (which is what will happen if Trump’s plan goes into effect), business owners do not hold the jobs that were vacated by the deported workers in hopes that they will be filled by U.S.-born workers, nor do they continue to pour cash into industries that are labor dependent.
“They look to invest in industries that do not have as much of a need for labor as you may see in farming, which explains why mass deportation typically has such a negative impact on U.S.-born workers as well as migrant workers who are dependent upon these types of jobs.
“Industries such as hospitality, farming, construction, food service, mines, and factories will be hard hit.”
According to a report about Trump’s mass deportation plans, immigrants made up almost 90 percent of the United States labor market growth over the past five years.
The National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) said 3.6 million foreign workers entered the U.S. job market between 2019 and 2024, compared to 479,000 American-born workers.
“The reality is that most of the people who would end up getting deported in any sort of mass deportation are people who are simply working in the U.S. labor force,” Stuart Anderson, NFAP executive director, previously told Newsweek.
Members of the Republican Party have, however, cast doubts on Trump’s flagship mass deportation policy.
Representative Tony Gonzales, who represents Texas’s 23rd Congressional District, previously told Newsweek that the U.S. does not have the “resources” to carry out Trump’s plan.
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