The Pennsylvania agricultural sector, which relies heavily on foreign-born workers for its essential workforce, is bracing for the impact of immigration raids and mass deportations promised by President-elect Donald Trump. Workers at Bonnie Brae Farm in Adams County harvest the summer bounty. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.
The heightened rhetoric has raised fears that Trump’s plans would be costly, divisive, and inhumane and cripple the growing, harvesting and processing of food products — even with temporary workers hired under the H2A visa program. Sarah Lott Zost is a fourth generation fruit grower at Bonnie Brae Fruit Farms in Adams County. September 10, 2024. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.comHer Adams County farm is part of the fruit belt that comprises 120 fruit farms and contribute about $580 million a year to the county’s economy.
Pennsylvania’s mushroom industry, the largest in the nation, fuels an annual $764 million in revenue. The bulk of its essential workforce is made up of foreign-born workers.Pennsylvania’s mushroom industry fuels an annual $764 million in revenue. The demographics of the industry workforce has changed over the years from primarily Mexican natives to increasingly people from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
“I remember the ICE raids,” she said. “I remember officers pulling people out of trucks because they had been in front of an apartment that got raided.” Trump tapped as a policy chief Stephen Miller, architect of his anti-immigration agenda during his first term. “That’s more than the government gives out in child tax credits,” Rivera said. “So that’s what the Trump administration wants to do with our tax dollars. And that’s not taking into consideration that there will be lives lost in this process.”stands to be hard hit by anti-immigrant policies.
As farms have gotten bigger, farmers have struggled to meet their needs for a workforce where the vast majority is foreign born.