“There needs to be some solutions put on the table,” Lyall said.
Across the country, Trump’s immigration raids have roiled farms and farming communities – with cases of worker shortages and fears of unpicked crops. And it has fueled growing calls for the Trump administration to protect agricultural workers critical to the U.S. food supply.
Of the 2.6 million people working on U.S. farms, about 42% lack legal status, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Farmers say few native–born residents will pick fruit or tend cows. The country’s foreign agriculture worker visa program can be costly, burdensome and limited. And farmers say Congress has failed for decades to pass comprehensive immigration reforms.
Those long-standing struggles are now compounded by the lurking presence of Trump’s masked immigration forces as harvest season approaches or is underway.
Earlier this month, raids on farms in California left hundreds detained, and soon after, a group of farmworkers in California held a three-day strike and called for boycotts. At stake are potential disruptions to the U.S. food supply and higher consumer costs.
“Farm employers are holding their breath, trying to keep operations afloat without knowing whether their workforce will show up tomorrow — or stay away for fear of a raid,” said Ben Tindall, head of the Save Family Farming advocacy group, based in Washington state.
The Trump administration in June suspended farm enforcement but then reversed that decision. More recently, Trump has cited the importance of farm labor and said his administration would look into ways for farmworkers to “be here legally, they can pay taxes and everything.”
Other administration officials, including border czar Tom Holman, said there would be no “amnesty” but cited ongoing discussions about policy changes related to farmworkers. A bill in Congress would create a legal pathway for longtime workers and streamline worker visas.
The push for changes comes amid signs of a shift in public attitudes reflected in a recent Gallup poll that found a record-high of 79% of U.S. adults say immigration is good for the country, while only 35% said they approve of Trump’s handling of the issue.
Manuel Cunha, the president of the Nisei Farmers League, which represents 500 farmers employing about 75,000 California farmworkers, said he’s hopeful that policies will change.
For now, he said, workers in places like the San Joaquin Valley are holding steady despite raids that have caused temporary shortages.
Still, farmers are on edge, knowing it could change at any moment.
In Lincoln County, Wisconsin, Hans Breitenmoser’s parents emigrated here in 1968 from Switzerland to raise dairy cows on a small farm.
He grew up amid the daily rhythms of feeding and milking. When the farm grew, they had to hire more workers. But they could find few native-born residents willing to take the jobs in the sparsely populated area. And over time, fewer younger people were sticking around the farms.
Now, the 56-year-old relies on about a dozen foreign-born workers, mostly from Mexico, to operate the 460-cow farm.
“If it wouldn't be for immigrants, my dairy farm wouldn't run,” he said.
