(NCPR) - President-elect Donald Trump has promised to deport thousands of undocumented immigrants who are living and working in the U.S. after he takes office next month.
That could disrupt farms across the state and in the North Country. It’s estimated a couple thousand mostly Mexican and Central American immigrants work on New York State dairy farms.
"The incoming Trump Administration is messaging about this a lot, and so there's no reason not to take them out their word," said Richard Stup, the director of Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development. "People are definitely concerned. But I would emphasize that we are in a period of uncertainty. We really don't know. We don't know what exactly the enforcement's going to look like. We don't know how quickly it's going to change."
Stup and his team are hosting events for farm business owners so they can figure out how to best prepare for the unknown.
Stup said there are a few ways the Trump administration enforcement could take shape. They could focus on border crossing enforcement. They could concentrate on identifying individuals who aren’t authorized to work in the US.
"They can also focus enforcement on the employers who may hire people who are not authorized to work," he said. "So from an employer standpoint, what is it that you need to do in order to make sure that the employees you are hiring are authorized to work?"
They’ll talk about what happens if the government takes an enforcement action, he said. A lot of times that means the feds will send employers a letter asking them to confirm their workers’ legal status, Stup said.
"That's by far the most common thing. Then, the next thing is an ICE raid. That's the most impactful, most scary thing," he said.
During the first Trump Administration, farmers in New York reported that the feds arrested individual workers, but nothing large-scale. In 2021, the Biden Administration stopped workplace ICE raids.
But the rhetoric and possibility still frighten farm employers and their immigrant workers, even if they are here legally.
Stup said this kind of immigration policy could devastate the agriculture industry. The National Center for Farmworker Health estimates that 70% of ag workers were not born in the U.S.
"We all want locally produced agriculture. And we know that if we hurt the workforce on those farms, the farms won't be able to operate without a viable workforce in place. So I can't imagine that the Trump Administration wants to really harm employers and really harm agriculture," Stup said.
Stup said he hopes that lawmakers can focus on reforming the immigration system, including a visa for dairy farm employees who work year-round.
Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development is hosting two online sessions on Dec. 17 and 18.
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