Trump proposes partial legalization for immigrants who have been working in agricultural and hotel sectors for ‘10 to 15 years’

President Donald Trump proposed Tuesday that illegal immigrants who have been working for 10 to 15 years in some sectors such as hotels or agriculture can register through the company they are part of, pay taxes and even legalize their immigration status. The Republican president issued these statements during a visit to the "Alligator Alcatraz" center in the state of Florida, accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Gov. Ron DeSantis.

"We have a lot of cases where ICE will go into the farm, and these are guys working for 10-15 years, no problem. The farmers know them. It’s called farmer responsibility, or owner responsibility, where they’re gonna be largely responsible for these people. And they know these people, they’ve worked on the farms for 15 years. We're going to give them responsibility for people, and we're going to have a system of signing them up so they don't have to go. They can be here legally, they can pay taxes, and everything. They're not getting citizenship, but they get other things. And the farmers need them to do the work," Trump explained.

Prioritization in deportation efforts.

Trump's remarks came as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to generate strong debate among different corners of the Republican Party, with some supporting the "temporary pass" that the president wants to grant some agricultural and hotel workers, and others speaking out against it.

Regarding this issue, the White House explained that Trump's proposal is nothing more than a prioritization issue in overall deportation efforts. "The White House is working closely every day with Department of Agriculture as well as the Department of Homeland Security when it comes to worksite enforcement. And the President’s focus and the focus of this Administration is, of course, to remove public safety threats from the streets and to deport as many of the illegal criminals, especially the violent criminals, that we know are still here because of the previous administration," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a press briefing.