Trump crackdown

Trump crackdown

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
agri-pulse.com has reported that a recent immigration raid at a Pennsylvania mushroom farm has heightened fears that President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration could widen to other agricultural areas. Democrats, citing deportation fears, have introduced legislation that would offer a pathway to legal status to farmworkers, mirroring provisions included in 2013 immigration reform legislation that died in the House.

There is no evidence so far that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intends to broadly target farms, and GOP congressional leaders have shown no interest in taking on immigration reform, swamped as they already are with health care, tax and spending legislation.

 

Executive director of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, Bob Naerebout feels very strongly that foreign labor is the engine that drives the engine of agriculture: “When you are at 3% unemployment or less like we are in the Magic Valley, there is a void of labor and they fill that void. And that helps oil the economic machine that keeps everything running. If we cannot have our raw milk processed into dairy products than that creates an economic void in our community. There has been controversy through the last election campaign but the refugee community is a very economic engine that we are utilizing in the state of Idaho. They have to be recognized for all of the good and the value they bring to our community.”

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