Immigration crackdown is hurting farms: Labor Department

(NewsNation) — The Department of Labor is warning that farmers are facing a “crisis” and that there are “immediate dangers to the American food supply” in light of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

In a document filed in the Federal Register this month, the department cites a “near total cessation” of migrant workers and a “lack of available legal workforce” as the main factors pushing American farms toward serious shortages. This comes as farmers continue to feel the pain of higher costs, tariffs and uncertain federal support. Officials insist the only way out is to bring in more foreign workers at lower wages to pick crops.

The proposal is meant to help farmers hire faster and keep crops from rotting in the field. The department notes that there is a “persistent and systemic lack” of American workers who are “qualified, eligible and interested” in performing the kinds of work agricultural employers demand. Some farmers tell NewsNation that it’s a reality they are struggling to navigate, having worked with so many migrant workers.  

“They pick, they do a lot of hard work, excuse me, that many Americans don't want to do,” John Boyd Jr., president and founder of the National Black Farmers Association, said. “And the administration, after they made that policy to get those workers out of the country and anything of that fits the definition of an immigrant out of the country, it left farmers high and dry, looking for a workforce that simply isn't here.”

The Labor Department's plan would lower wages for migrant workers approved for temporary agricultural jobs, with an estimated boost of nearly 120,000 additional farm workers and potential savings of more than $2 billion for farmers nationwide.