Immigration groups warn the U.S. food system would fall to its knees if the Trump Administration goes through with mass deportations. At a Senate Judiciary hearing, one group says if even half the ag workforce were to disappear, it would crumble the industry.
“Mr. Reichlin-Melnick, just briefly describe to us what it would look like if the agricultural industry were suddenly to lose half of its workforce,” said Sen. Alex Padilla (California).
“I mean, if it was overnight, the U.S. food supply would crumble. Workers, undocumented workers work across the agricultural sector, from picking crops in the field to meat processing to poultry processing, to dairy, to everything in between. And these are workers that without them, our food supply would drastically diminish. I’m not saying that there are no jobs. Americans have done those jobs in the past, but it could take decades before we get enough workers to replace the experience and the knowledge of some of these workers who have been doing the jobs for 20-30 years. It is not something that can just be replaced overnight, and we would have a severe impact to the U.S. food supply,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick.
Others at the hearing spoke in favor of Trump’s plan, including the mother of Rachel Morin who was killed last year by an illegal immigrant from El Salvador.
