US President Donald Trump seeks an overhaul of the American immigration policy to push his ‘America First’ agenda on the employment front. As a result, the ongoing ICE raids in the country have cast a shadow of uncertainty over immigrants in the US currently stepping up as workers.
Fears of deportation especially run high on farms, hotels and restaurants. Despite the POTUS’ initial take that immigration officials should avoid these places, the Trump administration quickly shifted gears. The Department of Homeland Security sent chills down those working at places related to these sectors as they reaffirmed agents to continue their crackdown on those in the US illegally no matter where they work.
Employees voice their plight amid Trump’s immigration raids
A 29-year-old Mexican national, who has been working in California’s strawberry fields since her arrival in the country as a then-12-year-old, divulged how afraid she was of the Trump admin’s crackdown despite having a work permit that is valid for the next four years. “We’re not criminals,” she said, adding that people like her are only trying to work and not cause any trouble for anyone.
Similar reactions surfaced on Reddit. A user admitted that they were “seriously afraid of going to work.” They attributed these fears to authorities pulling the “family guy Pantone colour scale and if you’re slightly brown you’re f***ed.” Affirming that they are a citizen and have bills to pay, they added, “2 f***ing weeks in jail would wreck anyone in this country economically. This is no f***ing way to live.”
Another replied to them, saying, “Yeah, people don’t believe me or understand when I tell them I carry my passport everywhere now.”
An inquisitive user wondered if “slightly brown” people also included Indians. Although the person who popped the question revealed that their friends living in the USA weren’t facing any issues despite the raids, the other responded “Yes.”
Yet another person joined in to add, “I mean, that depends. Are your friends who are living life like before working in the farms, construction, food and service industry? Or are they like me who just do their boring 9-5 at their desks? White collar vs blue collar is a pretty important distinction that my fellow Indians don’t always seem to fully comprehend.”
ICE raids could lead to food shortages
Forbes has since also reported that with the deportation operation going into overdrive against the agriculture department, the country could soon face massive food shortages. Over 40% of crop farmworkers are said to not have legal status. Given the current circumstances, Bloomberg’s recent report suggested that a massive fraction of employees have already stopped showing up at work.
As is evident, the fearsome immigration raids are ringing in fear for employees and their employers alike. Texas dairy farmers said that their workers haven’t been in attendance to milk cows. Meanwhile, an Idaho onion grower highlighted that hands supporting him have been noticeably missing out on fulfilling their duties as well.
Employers reveal how dependent they are on visa-holding workers
“If we deported everyone here that’s undocumented and working on farms, in fields, we would starve to death,” said one of America’s largest onion farms Idaho-based Owyhee Produce’s boss Shay Myers. He asserted that getting rid of these workers will only result in a lax as they will not be able to feed people in the country.
In order to keep his farm running, Myers has to round up about 90 workers, all thanks to federal guest-worker visas, called H-2A. Most of these people come from Mexico. Filling up employee seats continues to be a major headache for him. As a third-generation farmer himself, he added, “People don’t really understand where their food comes from and what it takes to get their food to them.”
Katelyn Eames, who’s behind the peach farm Burg’s Corner in Stonewall, Texas, disclosed that while the government plan asks her to recruit US citizens first, all the years that she’s been at the farm, no Americans have shown any interest in applying. And so, she had particularly relied on workers with temporary visas to pick peaches in seething hot summers with temperatures often exceeding 100 degrees F. “If it weren’t for them, there would be no peaches,” she said. “If you think a US citizen wanted to pick 500 acres of my dad’s peaches in the last 60 years, you would be sadly mistaken.”
Texas state Agricultural Commissioner Sid Miller also said that the ICE raids had hit them hard despite some Texas dairy farms shifting their focus to technologically-driven work. He, too, agreed that some undocumented workers, presumably fearing that they will be detained or questioned, are no longer coming to work. Addressing the “sheer panic,” Miller said, “Those cows, they have to be milked every eight hours, so if milkhands are gone, what are you going to do.”
Ventura’s Deputy Mayor Doug Halter also noted how all the Latinos had seemingly vanished from one of Home Depots’ outposts near him ever since the immigration raids targetted workers outside the retailer. As he walked through the aisles of a store, he noticed something excessively “abnormal,” which was that only White people could be spotted at the location.
Unauthorised immigrants constitute an estimated 5% of the US workforce, according to Bloomberg. And the majority from here makes up for the labour shortages in construction, food processing and other such areas.
Trump admin officials respond amid farmers’ fears of deportation
Amid the ongoing crisis, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan alluded to hotels and farmers on The Daily podcast. “I have said for a long time, Congress needs to make some changes. We need a workforce to do that type of work, then create a legal pathway,” he said. Referencing the immigration raids, added, “The president understands there’s a broken system here, but it doesn’t mean we just ignore the law.”
DHS Spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told Bloomberg in an email that the US president has been “incredibly clear” about leaving “no space for industries who harbour violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts.”
Meanwhile, Trump himself told reporters on Wednesday, “We have to take care of our farmers. We have to take care of people that run leisure hotels.” However, he emphasised that it was most important to “get the criminals out of our country.”