President Donald Trump, citing pressure from the agriculture and hospitality sectors, says farmworkers who are in the country illegally shouldn't be deported and reiterated that the administration would be taking action on the issue.

"We’re going to have an order on that coming out soon," he said Thursday in response to a reporter's question at a White House ceremony.

Trump didn't elaborate on what the administration would do about farmworkers and hospitality industry employees, and a White House spokesman told Agri-Pulse that he didn't have any more information either. 

Trump had previously suggested that farmworkers would be allowed to stay but required to return to their countries temporarily. In April, he said farmers would be able to “come in with a letter concerning certain people, saying they're great, they're working hard. We're going to slow it down a little bit for them, and then we're going to ultimately bring them back. They'll go out; they’re going to come back as legal workers.”

Trump's latest remarks followed enforcement actions this week on farms in California and at a meatpacking plant in Omaha, Nebraska.

"Our farmers are being hurt badly. They have very good workers. They’ve worked for them for 20 years. They’re not citizens, but they’ve turned out to be great. We’re going to have to do something about that. We can’t take farmers and all their people and send them back because they don’t have what they are supposed to have," Trump said. 

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The question to Trump was prompted by a post on X on Thursday where he said in part, “Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace." 

Citing those remarks, California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded with a post of his own that said Trump had "reversed course on immigration. We’re watching closely — and we’ll hold him to it. This happened because you spoke up."

GOP Rep. David Valadao, who represents a district in California’s Central Valley, welcomed Trump’s remarkets on the issue. “Farmworkers are the backbone of the ag industry, and I'm happy to see President Trump understands the urgency of this issue. ICE must prioritize removal of criminals over the hardworking people who contribute to our communities and economy,” Valadao said in a post on X.

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