(NewsNation) — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is standing firm that there will be “no amnesty” from the Trump administration when it comes to undocumented migrants, including farm workers.
The administration has come under scrutiny following immigration raids at two California cannabis farms that resulted in 361 arrests, as well as the death of a worker who fell from a greenhouse.
Speaking at the inaugural Hill Nation Summit Wednesday, Noem defended the administration’s targeting of the farms telling the audience a “large case” had been built to warrant the raids.
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“We’ve brought in over 360 I believe criminals that we have brought into detainment, many of them had charges against them at where pending or they were convicted of murder of rape and trafficking” Noem said. “And 14 different children were there as well. Nine or 10 of them were unaccompanied, which means they were working at this facility without a known parent or relative there with them. And we also had people working at that facility who were charged and convicted of child trafficking and human trafficking and sex trafficking.”
While Noem said the administration is targeting undocumented migrants with criminal records, she stressed that no exceptions would be made for those without criminal records.
“There will never be amnesty under President Trump,” Noem said. “The president is very clear that he doesn’t believe the law should apply to some people and not to others. And that there should be consequences for some people and not for others.”
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According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, an estimated 40% of the nation’s crop workers are undocumented. Some farmers are expressing concern that the crackdown on undocumented farm workers could exacerbate going labor shortages in food production and farm operations.
“What I think is so remarkable, is that we’ll let them come back the right way and we’re facilitating that today. So, every individual that’s here this country that’s concerned or every farmer out there who has someone that’s working for them that’s concerned, you know, work with getting them home and so they can come back in the right way,” Noem said.
Earlier this month, President Trump pledged at a rally in Iowa to protect American farmers who rely on migrant workers to operate their farms.
Trump said that the plan would allow migrants to avoid being deported, but that while being allowed to remain in the country and pay taxes, his protection does not provide a path to U.S. citizenship. Yet, while putting the farmers ultimately in charge of the migrants they employ, Trump said he would hold farmers responsible if trouble arose.
