U.S. farm industry groups want President-elect Donald Trump to spare their sector from his promise of mass deportations, which could upend a food supply chain heavily dependent on immigrants in the United States illegally.
So far Trump officials have not committed to any exemptions, according to interviews with farm and worker groups and Trump’s incoming “border czar” Tom Homan.
Nearly half of the nation’s approximately 2 million farm workers lack legal status, according to the departments of Labor and Agriculture, as well as many dairy and meatpacking workers.
U.S. Representative John Duarte, a Republican and fourth-generation farmer in California’s Central Valley, said farms in the area depend on immigrants in the U.S. illegally and that small towns would collapse if those workers were deported. Duarte’s congressional seat is one of a handful of close races where a winner has yet to be declared. Duarte said the Trump administration should pledge that immigrant workers in the country for five years or longer with no criminal record will not be targeted and look at avenues to permanent legal status.
Wow, it’s almost like when faced with the consequences of your profoundly cruel and destructive rhetoric, suddenly some form of tempered, compassionate approach seems like a good idea. 🙄
Assholes.
Duarte said the Trump administration should pledge that immigrant workers in the country for five years or longer with no criminal record will not be targeted and look at avenues to permanent legal status.
Bwah hah hah! Sure, that’s something that’s going to be coming out of trump’s mouth.
Sorry, no, they steal American jobs and undermine society.
Seriously what is wrong with these people? Are they eight years old?
i hate foreigners and socialism, send me my farm bill subsidy and someone to pick my tomatoes at less than minimum wage
They have only one real belief, and that’s white supremacy.
That’s funny.
US farm groups want Trump to spare their workers from deportation - yet they likely still voted for him.
Pro Palestinian groups want to spare Palestinians from genocide - yet they likely helped to support the re-election of someone who has a concrete track-record of being anti-Muslim and heavily pro-Israeli with explicit statements fully supporting Netanyahu’s actions instead of voting for a party who at least meets at the table for peace talks and may be convinced by The People to take a stronger stance in support of peace.
The specific issues are irrelevant (don’t at me about Gaza). It’s how different people understand and act upon issues and politics differently.
These nincompoops all think it’s the other people they’re voting pain on, not themselves. They’re welcome to everything they’ve brought upon themselves.
Oh wow you said “don’t at me about Gaza” 8 hours ago and no self-aggrandizing dipshit has stopped by yet to uhm ackshually you about how the Democratic Party was literally (read: figuratively) shooting Palestinian children in the face. I’d say that crowd might actually have collectively pulled their heads out of each others’ asses, but I think it’s far more likely that Rostelekom is having an outage today or something.
whoch relies upon them being here illegally
Wait what? Ok yeah if the system cant handle paying living wages then yeah fuck those farmers. People still dont deserve to get deported though
Imagine being so bad at running a business that it only works if you have near-slave labor.
Undocumented people who are paid cash don’t pay income tax, social security, or Medicare. That allows them to be paid considerably less money, which keeps food costs down nationwide.
And cheap, plentiful food is absolutely essential to the US. Its political stability has always been tied to the economics of farming.
The Civil War was absolutely about slavery, but it was also about economics and food security. The South depended on slavery to keep prices low. There were millions in the South who didn’t own slaves and knew slavery was wrong, but were so afraid that the economic impact from losing the free labor would prevent them from putting food on the table that they were willing to kill to keep the evil institution alive.
Look at all the most politically turbulent periods in American history (turbulent as in people were at or near to mass violent revolt), and you’ll find food insecurity.
A hungry crowd is an angry mob.
So the US has worked HARD to keep food cheap. While there are people in the US who struggle with proper nutrition and may not know where their next meal will come from, you don’t have many people literally starving to death. Food can always be found somewhere. For now.
Now we have an incoming administration that’s threatening the food supply. And unlike 1861, there’s no “greater good” to justify it. Trump just wants to deport the cheap labor specifically to hurt immigrants because he’s fucking evil.
If he goes through with this insanity, crops will rot in the field and grocery prices will quadruple while the prices of imports also skyrocket from tarrifs. We have some really hard days ahead.
I mean if the US will starve unless they suppress wages then… I didnt want to eat this week anyways
It’s not the suppression of wages as much as it is an effective tax break for the poor achieved through hiring undocumented immigrants and paying cash. By not withholding taxes, the workers are effectively being paid 30%+ more for their labor.
The solution, once again, it to tax the wealthy more to provide relief to everyone else.
Folks, here’s what’s happening: fiefdoms and minor lords are the final goal of the GOP. Farmers will have workers who are protected from deportation as long as they are in the farmer’s good graces. Likewise, H1B visas already operate like this - as long as you are loyal and useful you are protected from the sanctioned cruelty of the justice system.
Right wing thought does not care or support democracy. They don’t want people to be free so much as “free”. They want to control other people. It doesn’t matter what the laws are when it comes to themselves - they exist outside that system. They have their own country club system. The right wants petty tyrants.
I should not have belly laughed the way I did at this. Have fun having your faces eaten and the face eating party. Unless your lobbyists are able to pay enough for the god kings approval.
Deporting half the farm workers is going to do wonders for inflation, for sure. I’m sure all the people who voted for Trump because of “the economy” will be thrilled.
Yeah, this could cause a huge spike in food prices along with everything else. If that happens, its going to hurt a lot of people who cant even afford current food costs.
Especially when one considers that food prices alone have already increased over 20% from pre-pandemic pricing and wages have definitely not kept pace.
Tough shit. You fucks voted for him, this is what you get. You’d think farmers of all people wouldn’t need to be told “You reap what you sow” but here we fucking are.
You don’t say.
Shoulda voted Democrat.
Maintain the right to keeping slaves. They tried this awhile ago. It’s part of their culture.
Nope. Them and H1B … as much as I hate it… time to pay the piper.
Them leopards is hungry for faces
Leopards & Faces, all the way down.
