Immigrant food and farm workers are facing growing threats from the Trump-Vance Administration.
Farm workers report they are being “hunted like animals.” And more than 530,000 immigrants have had their work permits terminated, including hundreds of thousands of people who work on farms, in hotels and restaurants, and in food processing facilities. Adding to the increasingly hostile environment, the government recently announced they will cut access to basic healthcare provided by federally funded clinics to undocumented people.
New research from UC Merced reveals that noncitizens are doing their best to stay at home out of fear of raids from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and deportation threats. California alone has seen more than a 3 percent dip in the state’s workforce as a result—comparable only to drops seen during the first year of the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.
In some cases, the consequences are already clear. Michele Corigliano, the Executive Director of the Salt Lake Area Restaurant Association states that policy decisions have “messed up our industry.” And a Florida farmer says the government is “killing farming.”
A report from the American Immigration Council states, “Stories around the country already suggest that chilling effects are not only making immigrants themselves afraid to participate in public life, but affecting the institutions with which they interact.” But, the say, “It will take longer than six months to fully understand the impact of this chaos on American communities.”
The food system will grind to a halt without our immigrant neighbors and friends. But at the same time, we cannot reduce immigrants to being valuable only for their labor. People are people, wherever they were born and wherever they live.
With Labor Day approaching in the U.S., read a new piece on Forbes by clicking HERE as we use this opportunity to recognize and celebrate the invaluable lives of all people, across every stage in the food chain.
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Photo courtesy of Sharon Mollerus
