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ST. PAUL, Minn. (KFGO) – Minnesota farmers are now feeling the impact of ICE in rural communities.
Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, Andrea Vaubel, says immigrant workers are afraid to show up on farms, and that could impact your dinner table.
“None of us live in a bubble when it comes to our food supply. The actions being taken by the federal government across Minnesota will eventually have an impact on all of us at our local grocery store if this continues. This is devastating to our rural communities and the vitality to our rural towns. The safety and strength of our food and ag businesses remain our priority and that does not change according to the color of your skin,” said Vaubel.
Vaubel made the plea for ICE to leave Minnesota.
Democratic Sen. Rob Kupec of Moorhead said that even immigrants who are in the United States legally will sometimes stay home instead of going to work because of how much they fear ICE.
“They’re afraid to go to work, because they may just get picked up,” he said. “We have seen numerous instances of legal people being picked up, detained, shipped off in some cases to faraway places, and at times facing down people with guns.”
Democratic Sen. Aric Putnam of St. Cloud says the ICE raids are ultimately hurting farmers.
“Farmers who are already struggling to have labor help. Farmers who are already struggling with commodity prices that are not behaving the way they should are now having to contend with having no labor and no consumers to do their businesses and run their farms.”
Putnam says Minnesota has 3,500 H-2A farm workers. These are foreign nationals brought to the U.S. legally for temporary, seasonal agricultural work when there’s a shortage.
President of the Minnesota Farmers Union, Gary Wertish, says Washington needs to get its priorities straight.
“We still do not have a farm bill but ICE saw its budget more than triple. All of our Congressional Representatives need to stand up for Minnesota, the rule of law and basic human decency.”
Wertish joins other farming organizations and state lawmakers standing up for Minnesota farms.
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