Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is reporting a growing number of immigration related arrests. Farm Journal’s Drovers says that’s raising concerns about the possibility of disruption and financial impacts to producers and consumers.
The director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said that deportations are focused on public service threats and criminals. Many essential industries, including the livestock and agriculture sectors, depend on foreign born workers and they want to make sure they have access to a work force vital to the production of food.
Matt Teagarden is the CEO of the Kansas Livestock Association. He says U.S. ag must have access to a reliable legal labor force.
“We need to secure our borders while simultaneously offering guest worker programs that meet the needs of the livestock industry,” Teagarden notes. “Violent criminals should be deported, but we also need legal pathways for the hardworking, law-abiding, tax-paying immigrant workers who are so critical to many important industries.”
Teagarden says legislation is needed to positively affect the livestock sector. Previous legislation called the Farm Workforce Modernization act attempted to provide an opportunity for legal status to agricultural workers who have been in agriculture. But Congress has yet to pass a bill to provide a permanent solution.
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