Washington, DC — As Americans prepare to gather with families for a Thanksgiving feast, remember that immigrant workers are essential to the celebration – and that Donald Trump’s plans of mass deportation and slashing legal immigration levels promises to make the year ahead a lot more cruel and next year’s Thanksgiving all the more expensive.
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director for America’s Voice:
“Every family who enjoys their Thanksgiving feast should be grateful for the immigrant workers who helped grow, harvest, produce, and distribute their food. From the agricultural sector to the poultry processing industry, the classic American Thanksgiving meal is a testament to the hard work and essential contributions of immigrants.
Farmers across the country are already alarmed at the prospect of mass deportation gutting their hard-working and trusted workforce. And workers are worried they may be targeted and that the progress being made toward labor protections, unionization, fair wages and safety for agricultural workers may get reversed.
Families should prepare to pay more for next year’s Thanksgiving feast, as Donald Trump’s signature policy of mass deportation and slashing legal immigration levels will wreak havoc on industries across the economy and especially in the agricultural sector and poultry processing. Add Trump’s proposals for tariffs on imported goods and by this time next year, we may have a perfect storm for spiking inflation and prices for every American consumer.”
Among the recent coverage highlighting the potential impact of Trump’s immigration agenda on our food supply include:
Leah Douglas and Ted Hesson in Reuters, “US farm groups want Trump to spare their workers from deportation,” which notes:
“Nearly half of the nation’s approximately 2 million farm workers lack legal status, according to the departments of Labor and Agriculture, as well as many dairy and meatpacking workers … Mass removal of farm workers would shock the food supply chain and drive consumer grocery prices higher, said David Ortega, a professor of food economics and policy at Michigan State University. ‘They’re filling critical roles that many U.S.-born workers are either unable or unwilling to perform,’ Ortega said.”
Also read Macon Atkinson in The Post and Courier (SC): “Soybean, corn tariffs and mass deportations could cost SC farmers who backed Trump,” noting:
“Trump has proposed a 10- to 20-percent tariff on imports of all goods, with at least a 60-percent tariff on Chinese goods and up to 100 percent on items from Mexico. Economists say that would spark retaliation, which would hit farmers hard. Soybeans and corn are prime tariff targets because they are the United States’ biggest export commodities, accounting for about a quarter of total agricultural exports. China is America’s largest soybean customer.
…A mass deportation could cost around $315 billion. It would also cost the agriculture industry one in eight workers, worsening labor shortages and increasing prices for consumers, AIC [The American Immigration Council] reported. Nearly half of hired farmworkers do not have legal immigration status, according to USDA … ‘When we think about losing agricultural workers who grow and pack our food, that will really make it harder for everyone to buy affordable groceries,’ Wu said.”
Additional Economic Resources
- Watch a recording of last week’s virtual briefing: “Economists and Immigration Policy Experts Raise Alarm on the Catastrophic Long-Term Economic Consequences of Trump’s Mass Deportation and Immigration Plans”
- Read from America’s Voice, “Growing Consensus: Trump Immigration Agenda Will Devastate U.S. Economy”
