skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Farm Groups Fear Impact of Deportations on Ag Industry

play audio
Play

Monday, December 26, 2016   

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to deport as many as 11 million undocumented immigrants, a plan that has some farm groups raising a red flag.

According to The American Farm Bureau Federation, about half of all farm workers in this country are undocumented. The group supports a plan to set up a visa program granting workers residency but not citizenship.

Steve Suppan, senior policy analyst at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, said the Farm Bureau has to walk a fine line because their constituents are largely Republican, and they wouldn't back plans to make farm workers U.S. citizens.

“[There’s] A very small needle that has to be threaded,” Suppan said, "between providing agri-business what it wants and still somehow pretending to keep to the electoral pledge and the general idea of deporting the immigrants who are blamed for the loss of employment."

The American Farm Bureau has called for immigration reform, saying there needs to be a new, more flexible visa program that meets the needs of farmers and workers, but at the same time guarantees that the agricultural workforce is not subjected to mass deportation.

Suppan said the industry depends on minimum wage or, in some cases, less than minimum wage labor, but he expects there will be some deportations under a Trump administration.

"There are going to be, definitely, some fairly spectacular roundups, at least of the type that will show, you know, 'victory for America,' the immigrant-deportation variation of the Carrier saving 700 jobs,” he said. "So I expect to see a fair amount of public-relations outreach concerning migrants."

To the argument that immigrants are taking Americans' jobs, Suppan said legal citizens haven't wanted to work in the industry - especially for the wages currently being offered, which, according to the USDA, is on average $10.80 an hour, and even less for undocumented workers.

"Let's say you take the average wage up to an average of $15 an hour, and you include benefits,” Suppan said. "That changes the pricing structure of agriculture, and then becomes questionable whether, for example, the confined animal feed operation business model is viable."

Some farmers say Trump's plan would lead to higher prices for fruits, veggies, dairy and meat.

More information is available at iatp.org.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021