Keep America Working: A 'TRUMP Visa' Can Save Our Economy
This opinion piece by Javier Palomarez, President & CEO of the United States Hispanic Business Council, was originally published in Newsmax.
The strength of America has always been its people. Not just those born here, but those who chose to be here. Those who harvest our food, power our factories, innovate our technology and build our future from the ground up.
Today, we are witnessing a mass deportation effort that, while aimed at restoring law and order, has the potential of uprooting families, collapsing workforces, and choking cornerstone industries that make this country great. Keeping America working means keeping our entire workforce intact. Right now, we’re losing that battle. These deportations are happening at a moment our economy can least afford to lose labor. Industries tied to basic American life, food, shelter, and care, are under stress. If we don’t act now, we won’t just face disruption. We could face economic decline.
President Trump has built a reputation on strength, discipline, and results. But mass deportations without economic foresight could become a self-inflicted wound on the very nation he’s fought to defend.
The President’s recent openness to a visa program for agricultural labor and hospitality workers proves that he is flexible. It also illustrates how badly we need a fix. Our nation needs a solution that is bold, business-minded, and distinctly American. That solution is the "Temporary Residence for Undocumented Migrant Professionals (T.R.U.M.P.) Visa."
The Trump Visa would be a legal instrument designed to allow working immigrants, who can fill critical labor shortages, to remain in, or enter, the country under strict vetting, clear employment verification and on a temporary status. It would open the door for qualified foreign labor to legally enter sectors like agriculture, construction, hospitality, manufacturing, and healthcare, where the labor shortage has become a national crisis.
This is not theoretical. In industries like agriculture, over 70% of the hired workforce is foreign-born, and more than half are undocumented. In the construction industry, immigrants make up nearly 40% of the workforce. In fact, across manufacturing,construction, and agriculture the total projected worker shortfall by 2030 is over 2.6 million.
Research from the American Farm Bureau shows that deporting even half of the undocumented workforce would reduce U.S. agricultural output by up to $60 billion annually. It would also spike food prices, increase imports, and put countless American farms out of business. The TRUMP Visa provides the legal structure to prevent this disruption while upholding the rule of law.
To be clear, this is not amnesty. The TRUMP Visa would not offer automatic citizenship, access to government benefits, or voting rights. It would be a tool designed for workers who want to earn their way, pay their taxes, and fill jobs that American employers are currently unable to.
To reinforce its structure as a contribution-based program, I’d propose including a 10 to 20% payroll tax for TRUMP Visa participants. This added measure ensures that recipients, who benefit from the program, are also helping to fund it. This would be in keeping with President Trump‘s objective of ensuring government services are effective and efficient.
I’d keep the Trump Gold Card to afford those with the wealth and background to enter our country but would also introduce the Trump Visa for less wealthy individuals and migrant workers.
We can no longer ignore the numbers. More than half of all crop workers are undocumented. In states like Texas, Florida, and California, the construction industry would be severely disrupted without them. And in the service economy, from restaurants to elder care, the shortage of reliable labor is worsening by the day. Our member businesses at the United States Hispanic Business Council (USHBC) report the same problem. They can’t hire fast enough.
From meatpacking plants in Iowa, to dairy farms in Idaho, immigrant labor is not just a luxury. It’s a necessity. With the absence of a tailored work visa, businesses are being forced to scale down, lay off, or shut down entirely. In a time when inflation remains high and consumer costs are squeezing American families, removing the very workers who keep prices low and stable is outright dangerous.
The truth is, we cannot afford to politicize productivity. Immigration reform is an economic imperative. Immigration enforcement without economic planning is a recipe for collapse. The TRUMP Visa offers a path forward; one rooted not in partisanship, but in pragmatism.
The TRUMP Visa would bring order, legality, and accountability to an economy desperate for all three. It would not guarantee citizenship. It would not permit voting. It would not bypass security checks. But it would allow honest workers to earn a lawful place in our economy. And it would allow American businesses to grow again. In short, the TRUMP Visa could serve two major purposes. (1) monetize and stabilize a migrant workforce the US economy desperately needs, and (2) cover the vetting and administrative costs associated with managing the program.
This aligns with President Trump’s own principles: it’s pro-business, pro-worker, pro-security, and pro-American. It’s a policy only he could champion, and in doing so, he could turn a moment of conflict into a legacy of groundbreaking solutions. This is not about charity or compromise, rather it’s about choosing prosperity over paralysis, order over chaos, and American strength over self-sabotage.
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Javier Palomarez is the President & CEO of the United States Hispanic Business Council (USHBC), the most featured Hispanic Organization in national media. Prior to his current role, he led the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, where he helped raise the profile of the chamber. Palomarez is a leading voice, whose opinions have been sought after by the world’s leading media outlets including CNN, MSNBC, NBC, FOX Network, and the BBC. He is an acclaimed spokesperson for small business and entrepreneurship, as well as a nationally recognized leader in the Hispanic community, being recognized as one of America’s most influential Hispanics for over a decade. The son of Mexican immigrants, Mr. Palomarez was raised in south Texas, as a migrant farm worker.