Department of Homeland Security’s guidance for Executive Order could impact farmworkers

The Department of Homeland Security’s guidance implementing President Trump’s executive orders on immigration enforcement sets the stage for increasing the number of deportations, which already had reached record levels, and for expanding the people targeted for deportation.  A majority of the nation’s 2.5 million farmworkers employed on farms and ranches are undocumented immigrants. This guidance will cause more of them to be swept up in immigration raids.  “For more than 20 years, with a wink and a nod, we have allowed agricultural employers to hire unauthorized immigrants to harvest our crops and work in our dairies.  Farmworkers did not create the broken immigration system.  Mass deportations of farmworkers would be cruel and economically harmful,” said Bruce Goldstein, President of Farmworker Justice.  Farmworker Justice advocates for an opportunity for undocumented farmworkers and their family members to earn immigration status and citizenship.

The Department of Homeland Security’s guidance implementing President Trump’s executive orders on immigration enforcement sets the stage for increasing the number of deportations, which already had reached record levels, and for expanding the people targeted for deportation.  A majority of the nation’s 2.5 million farmworkers employed on farms and ranches are undocumented immigrants. This guidance will cause more of them to be swept up in immigration raids.  “For more than 20 years, with a wink and a nod, we have allowed agricultural employers to hire unauthorized immigrants to harvest our crops and work in our dairies.  Farmworkers did not create the broken immigration system.  Mass deportations of farmworkers would be cruel and economically harmful,” said Bruce Goldstein, President of Farmworker Justice.  Farmworker Justice advocates for an opportunity for undocumented farmworkers and their family members to earn immigration status and citizenship.