Like Sen. Ted Cruz, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump also had the opportunity to address the issue of immigration as it relates to farm labor during a CNN town hall forum Tuesday night.
Wisconsin dairy farmer John Pagel explained to Trump that the state’s dairy industry “is being challenged right now by having a labor force dependent on an immigration policy” and asked if he can “develop a policy that will give us that, give us the people that we have here to stay here and do the jobs — and create a policy that can bring people in to fill the jobs?”
Trump noted that dairy farmers are “in the same position as the California grape growers because they need people to come in” and he stressed the word “legally.”
“If you have an industry like California grapes, like perhaps what you’re talking about in Wisconsin, we’re going to let people come in, but they’re going to come in legally,” said Trump. “They’re going to come in through a visa program and they’re going to come in legally. It’s going to work out beautifully, you will not be affected. We don’t want to affect businesses. We want to grow businesses.”
Trump added that another that trade was related to the problem of immigration. “We are going to straighten out our trade policy so that you’re going to get a lot more business,” he said.
Listen to Trump’s answer here: Trump addresses farm labor question