Farm workers ditch work in fear of ICE raids as food prices set to soar
Farm workers ditch work in fear of ICE raids as food prices set to soar
Around 75% of immigrant farm workers in Bakersfield, California, ditched their shifts after Trump ramped up his threats by removing protections against ICE raids in "sensitive areas," including schools and workplaces.
Let the farms try to hire us citizens for this work. No one will take jobs that pay dollars per hour with no benefits. Let the farms raise salaries and charge Americans triple for produce. Let Americans bitch.... Then watch Trump and GOP blame the liberals for it.
I'm sure they will blame the libs and the Democrats for it because they are the ones pushing for a bigger minimum wage. Without it, employer's can collude to drive down wages, making higher paying alternative jobs non existent. Everything pays pennies!
Howdy, a reminder that we live in a market economy. What will happen is that if no one shows up for work at the wage offered to illegal workers, gradually, the rates offered will increase until someone shows. You'll notice America has no shortage of other classes of workers, such as sewer maintenance engineer or garbage collector. The reason is those jobs were never held by illegal workers. Will produce be as cheap as it was before? No, but then again it should not be a fundamental part of our economy to employ illegal workers. Either reform immigration law to allow for migrant workers or get rid of them. This weird middle-ground where we tolerate illegal employment in exchange for subsidized prices for produce is ridiculous. If we wouldn't have allowed this in the first place, the problem would not be so hard to solve today.
There are lots of legal migrant workers. One of the many problems with these mass deportations is that even legal immigrants, maybe even citizens, have to be afraid to show up.
The question is what percentage of these workers are undocumented? I don’t recall reading any actual numbers.
And to spread the icing on this shit-cake, I do remember reading months ago the claim that most illegals are people overstaying a work or student visa. Are we demonizing these people for nothing?
I think most people agree with you, and I don’t really think anyone would say that hiring illegal workers to lower prices and pay them lower wages is a solution.
People are upset not because they can’t exploit illegal immigrants anymore, but because the solution should’ve been to provide the working immigrants with worker protections and easier paths to citizenship (which you suggested something similar). Instead they’re attempting to suddenly and forcefully deport all of them.
That was fast! You people are already blaming someone else for this shitshow.
Then watch Trump and GOP blame the liberals for it.
... and more than half of Americans will agree with that conclusion.
How about if you are hiring undocumented immigrants for this work, let's not arrest the immigrants, let's arrest the owners of the farm.
Then we'll sell the farm off to someone who is willing to pay a living wage to people, and not slaves with no other options.
Or just give the farm to the workers and have them run it as a coop.
If socialist-welfare-handout farming subsidies were paid it be great if they were forced to be returned by people that employed those not legal to work in the us as well. Misusing government funds and all that jazz.
Naturally this will never happen but it'd be a good idea lol
most farms cant turn a profit that way unless they make some more bs being subsidized like corn, we need less corn
Our farming system needs an overhaul, but I agree that this isn't the way to make that happen. But I am hoping this bullshit will force us to take a closer look at how we produce and approach it in a more sustainable fashion.
Sounds like you're very familiar with how things work over here :(
Mmm, can't wait to pay $15 for produce. Fucking idiot Americans voting against their own interests.
I think the real issue is we're using undocumented immigrants to do these jobs. They don't get the same protections that legal workers get.
That may be an underlying issue but when the baby is incessantly screaming and crying, it doesn’t help to throw boiling water on it
Absolutely, but we are well past people using logic and reason. We wouldn't be in this situation in the first place, and we could have spent time actually solving legal immigration (among many other things) instead of years of focus on her emails and all the nonsense of 2016-2020.
Start your "vistory" garden now.
Let me start to say that I'm on our side (probably), but are you implying that you want those workers to be underpaid and have no worker rights so your produce price stays low?
This has always been a complex dynamic.
For example, is it wrong for me to buy Tuna tinned in South East Asia? The people working there have few rights and are paid a pittance for their work. That said, it's a highly sought after job because the other jobs available in the area are far worse.
Really we're talking about labor arbitrage. Whether or not the labor actually happens locally or in a foreign jurisdiction, laborers residing in a poorer jurisdiction are selling their labor to people in a wealthier one.
I think the answer to whether or not it's "ok" is firstly a personal one, (maybe I'm ok with it while others aren't), but also dependent on the degree of difference.
It might be ok to buy tinned Tuna from a company that invests in foreign communities and pays employees a living wage with good terms, but probably not ok to buy tinned Tuna from a company that chains employees to machines for 16 hours a day before allowing them to return to their cage-box.
What I'm saying is, I'm ok with foreign workers being paid less provided that it's not exploitative, which is subjective.
We told you so.
Not many conservatives on lemmy I'm guessing.
There are some.
Doesn’t matter really, people were saying it in other places I’d imagine.
I don't understand how this is supposed to make eggs cheaper.
(obligatory FUCK ICE)
Oh no. What an unexpected development! Who could have predicted this?
Don't worry, I'm sure the tariffs will help bring food prices down.
The spring season is coming... No one planting seeds to sow. That's gonna be fun. Plus hey, if you don't plant nothing, you don't need nobody to pick nothing. And we'll loose some weight? All beautiful skinny ass Americans again! Yey!
Planting is easier to automate than harvesting. Pretty sure everything has been using seed drills for a while now. Harvesting and meat packing are going to get hosed though.
Good. Agriculture shouldn't be built on the backs of almost slavery
If a sudden increase in prices is what it takes to fully automate agriculture logistics and infrastructure, then it is welcome
While certain things can be automated the robotics technology to fully replace humans is probably still decades away.
Mostly likely they will use prison slave labor, using the same immigrants.
The farms actually pay alright. Migrant farm work is good work, but it's remote, and seasonal, making it impractical or impossible for most people. Usually farm workers move with the seasons to harvest and work in farms in different climate zones on rotation, these workers have been targeted by anti immigrant policy since the Clinton administration, and no one has ever worked to reduce their burden and the red tape it takes to migrate in and out of the US as these migrating workers tend to also work in Canada and Mexico. More and more, we can't harvest our own farms in CA and we import more and more food. Weakening our economy, eliminating exports, and losing power because we need other countries with less racist laws to provide our necessities. Again and again. The racist bullshit that is America harms and hinders everything.
I'm fine with prices going sky high so long as we are eliminating exploited labor.
The reality is though these folks will seek jobs elsewhere and without any social safety nets they are in for some harsh times. I can only hope they have enough friends and family here to make it.
Don't worry, it would t be like this for too long. They'll solve this "problem" by rounding up everyone brown into concentration camps private prisons. Then, they can hire them back out as slaves to the farms at what they were paying them before. The exploitation is about to get a lot deeper.
I agree with this. If this is a job that simply cannot afford... Or rather refuses to have a well paid work force then I welcome the automation. Better than humans being treated like replaceable working parts.
The solution is really easy. Bring back the Bracero program os something similar and prosecute the employers who hire illegals.
Advocacy group America's Voice believes that U.S. rural and agricultural regions will likely be the hardest hit by Trump's immigration policies, which threaten mass detention and deportation of millions.
Border Patrol agents in unmarked vehicles have allegedly been carrying out racially profiled raids in California's agricultural center after stalking immigrants outside stores, CalMatters reports.
Estimates suggest that between 400,000-800,000 people are farmworkers in California, which is responsible for about 13% percent of the country's agricultural production value that is worth more than $25 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The USDA estimated that between 2020-2022 about 32% of crop farmworkers were U.S. born, 7% were immigrants who had obtained citizenship, 19% were authorized immigrants, mostly permanent residents or green-card holders and the remaining 42% were unauthorized to work. The majority of these workers have Latino backgrounds.
The AV report noted how anti-immigrant crackdowns in the past decade have led to devastating impacts for farms, such as crop rot, across several states, including Alabama, Florida and Georgia.
"The unmarked cars, the racial profiling, abusive harassment, and wide dragnets are likely just the tip of the spear of the incoming administration and the signs are unmistakable: there are 'enemy invaders' within threatening everything 'real Americans' hold dear, and the federal government will be interested in critical oversight in how local officials deal with the 'enemy.'
It warns, "The tone and culture they set will be just as important as the policies they begin to implement. As individual law enforcement and vigilantes feel empowered to take drastic action with little concern for consequences or oversight, our situation could get out of hand quickly and mass family separations will likely begin again. And, as we saw, the impacts will be felt by families, communities, businesses – and, frankly, all of us.
Advocacy group America's Voice believes that U.S. rural and agricultural regions will likely be the hardest hit by Trump's immigration policies, which threaten mass detention and deportation of millions.
Also known as trump supporters
No, eggs will be cheaper, I'm sure of it. /s
What does ICE stand for? I guess its some form of border/immigration police?
Apart from that this is probably one of the things the american population will notice quite fast. But I don't think I have to tell you that trump supporters voted against their own interest.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Thanks
Internal Combustion Engine.
He needs more lead in his diet.
Or a very brief, yet intimate, familiarity with the inside of a wicker basket. One of many, ideally.
Oh I love a good wicker basket. Or a beautiful rope. So many acceptable options!
Wow the exact fucking thing everyone with a brain said would happen! Amazing! Depopulation is TERRIBLE for your economy and wellbeing!
But wait. There’s more. When are the tariffs coming in? My money is on next week.
So yeah… this is going quicker than I thought. I was expecting a couple of months.
Voters every other election, after four years of people fixing shit:
All I can say is that Americans, myself included who voted for Harris because I'm not a dumbass, deserves all of this.
This also highlight how many companies are taking advantage of these people in a modern form of slavery..
Funny how we never demonize the fucking companies taking advantage of these people.
I’m torn.
Obviously taking advantage of cheap, desperate labor to maximize profit is wrong.
On the other hand, the whole thing feels like a deliberate act by the ruling class to turn the working class against each other. I’m hesitant to hate on farmers when billionaires are also suppressing wages so harshly all of society.
I think a lot of them are here for the jobs, because they couldn't make that much money in their home country.
In Canada too, we just gussie it up as the "temporary foreign workers" program, and bring immigrants over here for a while to do shit jobs we white people don't want to do, like work in Tim Hortons or drive for Uber, and leave them trying to afford housing and cost of living, and many just come here and move into shelters, or live in extremely large family settings, which makes locals hate them more because of the housing crisis.
I think immigration needs huge reform in Canada, and that the pathways to citizenship through massive tuition fees bumping out citizens from higher education and using diploma mill "colleges" need to be closed, but the temporary worker program is just slightly polished up slavery and nothing more. If we're going to offer immigration it should be to skilled people who can work in their field here and can afford to live here, and not just dangling scraps in front of vulnerable people because it's somewhat better than living in an underdeveloped country's slums so they can be our slaves, while we all fight over housing and resent each other. At least the migrant agricultural worker program doesn't hide the fact it is farm labour and temporary.
fuck that. we shouldn't only be open to one class of immigrant. I don't pretend to have answers but I know that this idea further a class hierarchy and as such is crap.
There’s got to be a way to ethically have migrant workers