That intern could result in a reduction of local fruits and vegetables….
THAT could raise prices….
THAT could invite foreign products to gain more American market share….
And effect the local , state and countries economy….
All this would be typical Donald Trump screwing up something ELSE because of his misguided view of reality….
It has long been an open secret in upstate New York that the dairy industry has been able to survive only by relying on undocumented immigrants for its work force. Now, this region has become a national focal point in the debate over President Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants and their role in agriculture.
The tensions have escalated to such a degree over the last year that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo described federal agents as reckless, accusing Immigration and Customs Enforcement of violating the rights of farmers in pursuing undocumented immigrants.
Mr. Cuomo was responding to a high-profile raid on a dairy farm, during which a farmer was briefly handcuffed after protesting that ICE agents were mistreating one of his workers. The farmer claimed ICE did not have a warrant to enter his farm.
Mr. Cuomo is a Democrat, but Republicans who represent upstate New York in Congress have also come to the defense of the farmers.
The pressures here reflect broader challenges facing farmers across the country who rely on undocumented workers. The farmers are struggling with a shrinking labor pool as fewer migrants cross illegally into the country and migrants who are long-term residents become too old for field work.
This year the labor shortage has been compounded by Mr. Trump’s trade war and extreme weather, forcing some small farmers to switch to higher-value crops, to reduce their acreage and to consider selling their farms.
If anything, the situation in upstate New York is more difficult.
Smaller dairy farmers here have been some of the hardest hit by tougher immigration enforcement because their workers are subject to scrutiny from both ICE and the border patrol, which is allowed to operate within 100 miles of the border — in this case, with Canada…..
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If the issue of undocumented farm workers is left unaddressed, there will be an impact across the supply chain. “There will be long-term consequences that not only our farms will deal with, but consumers will have to deal with as well,” said Steve Ammerman, the senior associate director of public policy at the New York Farm Bureau.
Without a legal alternative to informal migrant labor, the competition between dairy farms to retain migrant workers is so fierce that farm owners, once notorious for underpaying and mistreating workers, are now improving working conditions and wages to entice employees to stay on their farms, workers said…..