Summary
Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies, including heightened ICE raids, are disrupting the U.S. agricultural sector.
In California’s Central Valley, a key food-producing region, undocumented farm workers—over half the workforce—are staying home out of fear, leaving crops like citrus unharvested.
Bakersfield saw up to 75% of workers absent, sparking concerns of economic devastation and rising food prices.
ICE is also targeting sensitive areas like schools and churches after rolling back Obama-era protections.
Experts warn these policies could lead to widespread economic repercussions.
Then they should hire Americans
They aren’t willing to pay living wages
They’ve tried. They can’t abuse American workers the way they do immigrant workers.
So should we allow immigrants in illegally so they can be abused?
Yeah, you’re right. We should just abuse the ones already here by putting them in concentration camps- oh wait, that’s the plan!
We should institute an agriculture work visa that includes a Spanish language lesson on their rights and go after the corporations that make them work in the fields while pesticide is being sprayed.
Then no one would hire them
Well they have to hire someone if they want to make money. If they throw us into a food crisis because we won’t let them abuse people then we’ll just nationalize the fields.
Okay, now you’re just trying to turn me on.
I wouldn’t be turned on by that. America can legally use prison labor as slave labor.
Looks like all the trolls came out today 🤡
You should look up what Stephen Colbert did in 2010.
There was an organization that would take any American that wanted to be a farm worker, and connect them with local farms. Even paid decently, better than a lot of wage slave jobs. Not genuinely good, but like $15/hour back then.
As Colbert testified about it to Congress, “Please don’t make me do this again. It is really, really hard.” Americans really don’t want to do it.
This isn’t even the first time produce has rotten in the fields due to a Trump immigration threat. I distinctly remember reading about tomatoes rotting on the vine in the deep south, probably around 2017.
All that means is that $15 an hour over the course of a growing season is not enough to support a family and put down roots.
The very concept of “migrant” labor is flawed - its dehumanizing and precarious. People need a means of supporting themselves year around.
Not only do agricultural corporations need to accept slimmer profit margins and higher wage expenses, but an entirely new support structure is required to maintain the workforce in agricultural communities during the off seasons.
No I don’t listen to Colbert
Explains why you’re so uninformed and uneducated.
You can pay what you want the average American is not willing to do farm work because they got educated and want to use that education. Picking berries or whatever in the hot sun for 12h isn’t it. Until you start paying so much you raise prices 10x or more and that doesn’t work when you’re in a globalized economy, no one is going to pay $80 for strawberries when they can get them for $8.
More so these workers need to be regulated and that requires some form of legality and documentation.
Oh, this won’t be an issue for much longer. 😎
/s but not really
Pretty sure the idea is to use prison labor.
Even California, liberal strong hold, loves slave labor and voted to keep it recently. We are just terrible and we have low standards.
That should help grocery costs go down, right?!?
Oh right, we should allow them in the country illegally so they can get slave wages to pick cotton… I mean do ag jobs
No, we should make the process for naturalization reasonable and set honest expectations for cost of living.
And how would you do that?
Statistics, history, systemic research, epidemiological inferences, consult and trust experts in the relevant economic, agricultural, and socioeconomic trends. Ya know…normal stuff that’s has been available for ages, but largely ignored in favor of inflammatory hyperbole.
How Britain almost solved the housing crisis
Spoiler alert: begging and shoving money to the for profit house building industry is not the solution.
They are gonna arrest them, put them in prison and sell them as slaves back to the restaurant. You been living under a rock?