2w ago

Farm workers ditch work in fear of ICE raids as food prices set to soar

www.the-express.com Farm workers ditch work in fear of ICE raids as food prices set to soar

Scores of immigrant farm workers in the U.S. are avoiding work after President Trump removed "sensitive area" protections amid his immigration crackdown.

Around 75% of immigrant farm workers in Bakersfield, California, ditched their shifts after Trump ramped up his threats by removing protections against ICE raids in "sensitive areas," including schools and workplaces.

United States | News & Politics @lemmy.ml

return2ozma @lemmy.world

2w ago

Farm workers ditch work in fear of ICE raids as food prices set to soar

www.the-express.com /news/us-news/161317/farm-workers-ice-raids-food-prices

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102 comments

Good. Agriculture shouldn't be built on the backs of almost slavery
If a sudden increase in prices is what it takes to fully automate agriculture logistics and infrastructure, then it is welcome
- That's the plan...private prisons... Fill them with legal residents and brown and black citizens. Then you get self sustaining legal slavery!
  Bravo! Slow clap please!
  
  Don’t we already do that?
  
  Make more things illegal, more prison labour.
  
  Yeah. I’m expecting to say goodbye to weed.
  
  Yeah, they're just setting up many more.
- While certain things can be automated the robotics technology to fully replace humans is probably still decades away.
  Mostly likely they will use prison slave labor, using the same immigrants.
  
  The tech to automate most of the stuff already exists, it's just not being used as long as abusing humans ends up being cheaper.
  
  How do you automate the harvesting, ground work and maintenance? For example a peach tree?
  When I was in the valley, 2 inches of rain basically stopped a whole day's work for entire fields. Ground machines aren't even workable on that day.
- The farms actually pay alright. Migrant farm work is good work, but it's remote, and seasonal, making it impractical or impossible for most people. Usually farm workers move with the seasons to harvest and work in farms in different climate zones on rotation, these workers have been targeted by anti immigrant policy since the Clinton administration, and no one has ever worked to reduce their burden and the red tape it takes to migrate in and out of the US as these migrating workers tend to also work in Canada and Mexico. More and more, we can't harvest our own farms in CA and we import more and more food. Weakening our economy, eliminating exports, and losing power because we need other countries with less racist laws to provide our necessities. Again and again. The racist bullshit that is America harms and hinders everything.
- I'm fine with prices going sky high so long as we are eliminating exploited labor.
  The reality is though these folks will seek jobs elsewhere and without any social safety nets they are in for some harsh times. I can only hope they have enough friends and family here to make it.
  
  Don't worry, it would t be like this for too long. They'll solve this "problem" by rounding up everyone brown into ~~concentration camps~~ private prisons. Then, they can hire them back out as slaves to the farms at what they were paying them before. The exploitation is about to get a lot deeper.
- I agree with this. If this is a job that simply cannot afford... Or rather refuses to have a well paid work force then I welcome the automation. Better than humans being treated like replaceable working parts.
- The solution is really easy. Bring back the Bracero program os something similar and prosecute the employers who hire illegals.

102 comments