Trump said he was going after the “worst of the worst,” but many of the people his administration is detaining and deporting have no criminal record. Agricultural employers are scrambling to find reliable replacements.
Trump has cast the H-2A program as a quick help for farmers. At the same time, the program has been suspended during the government shutdown, which could cause production problems.
As the Trump administration cracks down on immigration, the food system is beginning to feel the lack of workers, but it could just be the beginning, experts said at an Investigate Midwest panel Thursday.
While every farm-dependent county in the state has lost population in the past decade, counties tied to meatpacking and food processing are holding on thanks to foreign-born workers — a trend that could be upended by Trump’s deportation plans.
Though they make up only 3% of all H-2A workers, white South Africans are the program’s fastest-growing group. Lawsuits in Mississippi claim they’re hired over Black US workers and paid more. The Department of Labor has confirmed allegations in dozens of cases.
Many farmers rely on undocumented immigrants. When Brooke Rollins was asked who would work on farms if the labor force was deported, she said she would address any ‘hypothetical issues that turn out to be real.’
Every Saturday, farmer Liz Graznak and her staff begin their day before dawn, loading a trailer full of organic produce, eggs and flowers. They pull out of Happy Hollow Farm
A new GAO report warns that rapid growth of H-2A program could impact workers' rights. These workers might be even more important under a second-term Donald Trump, who supported the program in the past.
Over the last four decades, many hundreds of employees have been killed or seriously injured without follow-up investigations by OSHA because small farms are exempt from agency scrutiny. What’s more, because the exemption applies to all OSHA activities, agency inspectors also are barred from checkin
With morning temperatures approaching 90 degrees one day in July 2015, a migrant laborer walking down rows of corn began to experience symptoms of heat exhaustion, including difficulty breathing and extreme nausea. The laborer was working near Boone, Iowa, for an independent contractor with the St.
