Farmers who voted for Trump continue to be utterly shocked that the man who promised to deport immigrants is following through on his promise, thereby gutting the farming workforce of their much-needed laborers. All those pleading tweets where they tag Donald Trump seem to be falling on deaf ears as the Trump family continues to sell their crypto, golf and party with rich tech CEOs.
Politico is reporting that dairy farmers in deep red counties in Pennsylvania continue to struggle. In Tioga County, which voted 3-1 for Trump, farmers are in trouble. One family had to sell ALL of their dairy cows because there were no workers and another farmer said none of his job postings looking for help have gotten him any calls from all those Americans who had their jobs stolen by immigrants.
A farmer who voted for Trump three times, John Painter, is utterly flabbergasted that Trump is doing exactly what he said he would do, saying: “The whole thing is screwed up. We need people to do the jobs Americans are too spoiled to do.”
Oh.
AG Secretary Brooke Rollins is sure that “American workers and machines can help close the gap” but thus far that has not been the case.
Immigrant labor fell by a shocking amount in the last few months, with BLS reports showing that the U.S. agricultural workforce fell by 155,000. Pew showed that immigrant labor overall fell by 750,000 from January through July.
This loss in immigrant labor is hitting farmers particularly hard. Farmers rely on immigrants – undocumented or not – to work on their farms because the H-2A program, which allows immigrants workers to fill seasonal jobs in the agriculture industry, has a lot of red tape and financial costs. AND it is not an available program to farmers that need help year round, like dairy farms.
Farmer John Painter, was all too happy to share how much he voted for Trump AND how much he thinks the rules should not apply to him. His family has run an organic dairy farm “for decades” and has hired migrant workers for, it seems, awhile.
That has changed recently. Why? Well, he hired a Mexican couple who “worked for him for two years until the husband was pulled over during a visit to family in New York. The man was later arrested and placed in removal proceedings after law enforcement discovered he had falsified papers. He was held in detention for more than a year before being deported to Mexico. His wife and children followed.”
Painter was upset, saying: “I understand that he was here illegally, but I also understand that he’s human. They want the American dream, and they want to work.”
Dude, you voted for the guy who said he would hunt down and deport anyone here illegally. YOU VOTED FOR THIS.
He said he’s “very disappointed” in how Donald Trump has handled immigration, saying “It’s not right, what they’re doing. All of us, if we look back in history, including the president, we have somebody that came to this country for the American dream.”
YOU. VOTED. FOR. THIS.
Enjoy getting exactly what you voted for.