Farmers worry about labor shortages as migrants hide from threats, deportation confusion

A large, dedicated work force is needed to pick the more than 1.2 billion pounds of apples New York farms can produce. (Adobe Stock photo)

Migrant farm workers across rural northern New York are reportedly hiding to avoid being picked up, harassed and possibly shipped out of the U.S. by immigration police. American farmers, who often rely on migrant workers to keep their farms profitable, are in an uncomfortable spot. Many voted for Trump but now "feel anxious about the prospect of losing a crucial labor force," reports Anan Ley of The New York Times. 

For migrant workers, hiding is one of the few ways to avoid "what they describe as cruel and chaotic deportation efforts," Ley explains. "In rural New York, some immigrants have been briefly detained and then released, while others with legal papers languish in custody, leaving many confused about who is being forced out of the country and who gets to remain."

If immigration police continue to round up and deport undocumented farm workers, farmers say they will be in a bind. David Fisher, the president of the New York Farm Bureau, a nonprofit industry group, told Ley, "Local sources of labor are simply not available in most cases."

Regardless of the national tension surrounding immigration, undocumented workers fill many U.S. agriculture jobs. "About 42% of farm workers are not legally authorized to work in the country," Ley reports. "In New York State, experts at Cornell University estimated in 2019 that about half of all farm workers were undocumented."

The loss of migrant workers could alter how much of a product a state can produce and ship nationwide. For New York, that means apples. Ley writes, "It is famous for producing more apples than any other state except for Washington — supplying the nation with one of its most-consumed fruits."

Farmers like Robert J. Colby, who runs Colby Homestead Farms just outside the small town of Spencerport, N.Y., advocate for a quick, no-nonsense approach to immigration. He told Ley, "The Congress and Senate [need] to get to work and get an immigration program together . . . . We should be able to vet people’s backgrounds and process them within six months in order for them to be able to come and become citizens."