The Illegal Immigrant Dilemma

How long will it take for a solution?

Aug 10, 2025

Hi friends,

Though closing the border is a very good thing, we can see that undoing decades of less-than-adequate problem solving is a huge job.

One of the more immediate problems that the Trump administration is addressing is about illegal immigrants as workers in America. And it’s a particularly sticky one.

Because of the ‘stickiness’, I imagine it will be difficult and take a long time to solve.

When Staying Means Breaking the Law

Mandonna Kashanian’s story isn’t unusual anymore. She’s an Iranian Christian woman who’s lived in the United States for over 30 years. She’s married to a U.S. citizen. She’s never committed a crime. And yet, ICE detained her as if she were a threat to the country.

She’s part of a growing group of immigrants in the U.S. who are neither citizens nor criminals, but who are trapped—unable to legalize, unable to leave, and increasingly, unable to live in peace. It’s a dilemma created over decades, and one that neither political party has solved.

America’s Hidden Workforce: Agriculture and Hospitality in Limbo

Walk into any field during harvest season or any kitchen during dinner rush, and you’ll meet them—men and women who are not citizens yet help keep America fed and served. Many have worked in agriculture or hospitality for decades. They pay taxes, raise children, and anchor local economies. Yet they exist in a legal no-man’s-land, often with no realistic path to citizenship or permanent residency.

The irony? They are a large part of America’s food supply and service economy workforce.

Agriculture: More than half of U.S. farmworkers are undocumented. In states like California and Texas, that number is even higher. The H-2A visa program for legal seasonal farm labor is slow, bureaucratic, and ill-suited for year-round needs.
Hospitality & Care Work: Hotels, restaurants, landscaping companies, construction crews, elder care, and childcare all rely on workers whose legal status prevents them from advancing professionally or even traveling abroad.

Lack of addressing this issue - now in the public eye - has created a parallel society: people who are important to the economy but excluded from its full legal protections.

Labor Shortage Fact-Check and Analysis

The Reality Behind “Americans Won’t Do These Jobs”

There are conflicting data points. After ICE raided Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha in June 2025, removing 70+ mostly undocumented workers, U.S. citizens and legal residents lined up to apply for the jobs. Similar scenes have followed raids in Mississippi and Texas. But retention is low—many new hires quit within days or weeks due to work requirements.

Key factors behind the shortage:

Demographics: Baby Boomers retiring faster than replacements enter the workforce.
Skill Mismatch: Many Americans aren’t trained for high-demand manual labor jobs.
Job Quality: Physically demanding, repetitive work in varied conditions deters applicants.
Automation: Fewer entry-level jobs, but those left require more skill.

Bottom line: The shortage is real, but it’s structural and multifaceted.

Trump’s Policy Reality: Tough on Paper, Selective in Practice

In his second term, President Trump has:

Tightened asylum rules.
Expanded deportations.
Moved to deny birthright citizenship to children of illegal immigrants (EO 14160, pending Trump v. CASA).

But behind the scenes, there are carve-outs:

Agriculture: Seasonal labor waivers granted quietly to prevent crop losses.
Hospitality: Enforcement pauses in tourism-heavy red states like Florida and Texas.

Fairness issue: Other industries—manufacturing, construction, logistics—face strict enforcement and audits, creating a two-tier system. Small businesses without lobbyists lose out.

Why the Current System Fails

Relies on undocumented labor but needs to legalize it.
E-Verify is voluntary in most of the country, making enforcement inconsistent.
Legal visa pathways (H-2A, H-2B) are underfunded, capped, and inaccessible to small businesses.

Potential Fixes vs. Why Modernized Work Visas Are Foundational

1. Mandatory E-Verify

Limitation: Shuts the door without opening a lawful alternative.
Why visas matter: Makes compliance possible by providing a legal labor supply.

2. Wage Floor Requirements

Limitation: Only applies to legal employment; illegal labor undercuts wages.
Why visas matter: Allows for enforcement by ensuring workers are in the legal system.

3. Simplified Guest Worker Programs

Limitation: Useful but still limited if not tied to broader visa reform.
Why visas matter: Modernized visas subsume and improve guest worker systems.

4. Incentives for U.S. Citizens

Limitation: History shows these jobs see high dropout rates even with incentives.
Why visas matter: Fills chronic gaps while targeting incentives to more sustainable roles.

Why Modernized Work Visas Work Better

A properly designed visa system would:

Match legal labor supply to economic need by industry and region.
Protect American wages with enforcement of wage floors and job advertising rules.
Level the playing field for employers, big and small.
Require accountability—taxes, background checks, contracts.
Be constitutional and conservative: no welfare, no automatic citizenship, no voting rights.

Clarity, Compassion, and the Rule of Law

America can’t fix its broken labor system with slogans or selective crackdowns.
Mass deportation isn’t realistic, amnesty isn’t fair, and ignoring the problem punishes the law-abiding.

If we want:

Strong borders
Legal employment
Protection for U.S. workers
Accountability for employers
A functioning food, energy, and construction economy

…then modernized work visas may be the answer.

Call to Action: Share this article. Urge your elected officials to support visa reform alongside strong enforcement - visa reform with an accountable process that works for everyone. Unfair is unfair - to American employers and workers; both sides are harmed.

Sources:

ICE Raids & Aftermath

Labor Shortage Context

Trump Policy & Industry Carve-Outs

Additional sources:

Politico – Trump labor agriculture immigration waivers (June 13, 2025)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/13/trump-labor-agriculture-immigration-00154876
Reuters – Trump immigration order enforcement agriculture waivers (June 22, 2025)
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-immigration-order-enforcement-agriculture-waivers-2025-06-22/
Associated Press – Coverage of ICE raids and aftermath (various dates)
The Texas Tribune – After ICE raids, U.S. citizens apply but rarely stay
The Wall Street Journal – Labor market dynamics in meatpacking and agriculture
Washington Post – U.S. labor shortages and immigration enforcement impacts
Newsweek – Mixed evidence on labor shortages and immigration
Epoch Times (opinion) – The Dire Shortage of Actual American Workers (June 26, 2025) (used for context, cross-checked against other outlets)
Sentient Media – Impact of immigration raids on food supply

As always, do your own research; make up your own mind.
This Substack is provided for informational and commentary purposes only. All claims are based on publicly available sources and are presented as political analysis, not legal conclusions. No assertion is made of unlawful conduct by any individual or organization unless supported by formal public record.
The views expressed reflect my personal perspective on current events. While I strive for accuracy, readers are encouraged to verify details using the official sources linked above. References to third-party material are included for your consideration and do not necessarily reflect my views or imply endorsement.
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(AI may have been used in this article.)

Stay calm - President Trump is a businessman who operates strategically, and not everything will make sense at first. His plan to shrink government and Make America Great Again is a process, not an overnight fix. Trust the long game, not just the headlines.

United we stand. Divided we fall. We must not let America fall.

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Until next time…

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