The high cost of deporting farmworkers
Ongoing labor shortage
“There’s no question we have a tremendous labor problem on farms and ranches,” says Chuck Conner, president of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, which represents 2,500 co-ops that pay $8 billion in wages annually. “It’s not a new problem. It’s been progressing for about a decade.”
Hispanic farmworkers officially comprise about 45 percent of all agricultural laborers in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). But that figure is deceptive because it’s derived from USDA’s surveys that depend on two number-muddling factors. One is that USDA surveyors must be given permission to interview workers by farm owners and operators, whose cooperation — should they be found employing undocumented workers — could bring about heavy fines and/or criminal prosecution.
The accuracy of USDA surveys also depends on the forthrightness of workers, who fear that if they openly admit they’re undocumented, they could face arrest and deportation. Consequently, estimates of an accurate count of Hispanic farmworkers range as high as 70 percent. What Trump’s promise — animated by forceful raids by Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) — has meant to farmers is a severe and sudden labor shortage.
“We’re hearing from farmworkers all over the country that they’re very much aware and afraid of deportations,” says Bruce Goldstein, president of Farmworker Justice. “They’re living in fear that their families will be broken apart.”
https://www.pccmarkets.com/sc/1708/high-cost-of-deporting-farmworkers.html
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