On CNBC’s Squawk Box, President Donald Trump said that the United States is allowing former undocumented migrants who were working on American farms back into the country, “with a pass, back in legally.”
The President said that the migrants who were returned to their native country, where “they’re schooling, they’re learning,” and are now “coming back legally.” He added, “We have a lot of that going on, and we’re taking care of our farmers.”
Saying we “can’t let our farmers not have anybody,” Trump added of the formerly undocumented migrants working on U.S. farms: “You can’t replace them very easily. You know, people that live in the inner city are not doing that work. They’re just not doing that work. And they’ve tried, we’ve tried, everybody tried. They don’t do it. These people do it naturally, naturally.”
Trump on undocumented farm workers: “People that live in the inner city are not doing that work. They’ve tried, we’ve tried, everybody tried. They don’t do it. These people do it naturally. Naturally … they don’t get a bad back, because if they get a bad back, they die.” pic.twitter.com/HxXtKtIPLa
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 5, 2025
As heard in the clip above, Trump said: “I asked a farmer the other day, ‘What happens if they get a bad back?’ He said ‘they don’t get a bad back, sir, because if they get a bad back they die.’ And I said ‘that’s interesting.’” Trump added, “In many ways, they’re very very special people.”
Many people are taking offense at Trump’s claim that “these people do it naturally” — with earlier use of similar thinking at the root of the umbrage.
Healthcare professional Anthony Hopper replied: “‘They do it naturally?’ Where have I heard that phrase before? Oh, yeah! American History 501: The History of the South.”
“They do it naturally?” Where have I heard that phrase before? Oh, yeah! American History 501: The History of the South.
— Anthony M. Hopper (@elander777) August 5, 2025
Public Policy expert Evaristus Odinikaeze also replied: “Trump’s comment is not just false and a made up story. It is also both reversal from his own promise to deport illegals, besides being a dehumanizing statement. No one is ‘naturally’ immune to labor exploitation or injury. Saying migrant workers ‘don’t get a bad back because they die’ reveals a callous disregard for human dignity and life.”
Another replied: “Bro that’s the same exact rhetoric they used to justify slavery. They said black people were naturally made for outside work because of our skin but white people couldn’t do it cause they were paler and weaker. How’s this mf bringing back slave politics in 2025.”
Having long relied on undocumented workers on their farms, U.S. agriculture companies and farms have been caught up in the Trump administration’s ICE deportation crossfire.
In a New York Times article from July, a Republican family farm owner in California, which has been deeply affected by ICE raids, described picking plums on his farm. “It’s a physical job,” Vernon said, where on slow days workers make around $22 an hour. “About 70 percent are undocumented.” He said he would like to hire American citizens but that it wasn’t possible, despite wages much higher than those offered by fast food employers and elsewhere.