In FERN’s latest story, published with The New York Times, reporter Ted Genoways explains how Donald Trump’s vow to deport millions of immigrants if he is re-elected would decimate the meatpacking industry’s workforce.
“Today, nearly half of the people who slaughter, butcher and package beef, pork and poultry in America were born elsewhere. In some packing houses, more than four dozen languages are spoken,” Genoways writes. “In some, Somali, Sudanese and Burmese refugees alone account for as much as a third of the work force. The fact is, America’s largest meat producers are dependent on the immigrants Mr. Trump is threatening to round up and deport.
“If he is elected and makes good on his promise to bar refugees, those producers could lose a vital source of labor overnight. If he succeeds in rescinding certain protections for asylum seekers and speeds the process of deportation trials, the entire industry could be brought to a halt. Meat processors are only just recovering from the ravages of the pandemic. This would push them to the breaking point — and perhaps crash the whole food system.”