More than two-thirds of U.S. farmworkers are foreign born, according to the USDA, and more 40% of the total are likely undocumented. Credit: Shutterstock / F Armstrong Photography

Farmers attending a national convention in San Antonio told Texas Public Radio they’re spooked about what the Trump White House’s mass deportations will mean for their livelihoods — and the nation’s food supply.

“Everyone’s nervous,” American Farm Bureau Federation Vincent “Zippy” Duvall told TPR at the organization’s annual gathering this weekend. “I think what makes us most nervous is we don’t know what steps the full deportation plan has in it.”

While Duvall said he’s not yet heard about federal raids on bureau members, some are already seeing migrant workers stay home over fears they’ll be deported. The loss of that migrant labor could threaten the food supply and raise prices, he told TPR.

More than two-thirds of U.S. farmworkers are foreign born, according to USDA data. Federal officials estimate that more 40% of that total are here without documents. 

“Whether it’s a row crop farm, or a specialty, or just a livestock farm like I have, it is very, very tough to get people to help us on our farms,” Brent Hollard, a northern Illinois farmer attending the convention told TPR.

Trump’s so-called “immigration czar,” Tom Homan, has said the administration’s focus is on expelling violent criminals who are in the country without papers.

However, experts caution that specific group accounts for a relatively small number of people. If Trump is going to make good on his campaign promises to conduct the “largest deportation” in U.S. history, he will need to expand the scope.

To this end, Congress passed the Laken Riley Act last week, broadening the net for deportations over accusations of crimes as minor as shoplifting. Trump also issued an executive order lifting Biden’s protections for “sensitive locations” such as schools, nursing homes and churches.

“They’re saying the focus is going to be on individuals that pose a threat to public safety. But the reality is there just aren’t enough of those individuals in this country,” John Sandweg, former acting director of ICE in the Obama administration, told National Public Radio on Monday. “So, I think as this thing goes forward and we start filling, you know, the hundreds of thousands of deportations he’s looking for, we’re going to start drawing on the population that’s been here a long time.”

Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a Policy Analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, told TPR that immigrant workers are already staying home for fear of deportation sweeps. Should the administration kick off an aggressive crackdown, the results would damage more than just the nation’s agricultural industry.

“If suddenly many of them are deported or are not able to go to work out of fear of being deported, I think that will have very real impacts on the output of the economy, whether there is enough food available,” Bush-Joseph added. Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter| Or sign up for our RSS Feed

Related Stories

This article appears in Jan 22 – Feb 4, 2025.

Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative...