Scrolling through social media, a troubling new set of reels keeps popping up in my feed: farmers, alongside news reports, sharing videos of fields full of ripe crops going unharvested as immigration crackdowns scare off — or deport — the workers needed to pick them.
According to a 2022 government survey, 42% of farmworkers lack work authorization, and 19% are authorized immigrants (but since the Trump administration appears to be targeting immigrants even here legally, this group may also be in the crosshairs). Depending on the agricultural sector, undocumented immigrants can exceed 50% of farmworkers.
Experts, including the U.S. Labor Department, have been warning about this moment since the Trump administration began ramping up deportation raids. The logic is simple: no workers = no produce.
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