09-02-2025, 06:30 PM
Civil Beat has another great article looking at the impact of ICE raids on coffee farms in Hawaii (~150 people arrested, those with even green cards unwilling to travel given the uncertain and arbitrary enforcement, estimated crop losses of 20% to 30% despite a bumper crop this year meaning hundreds of thousands of dollars lost for some farms).
https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/09/immigr...e-harvest/
"Smith called Trump’s campaign to deport millions of immigrants “an irrational policy,” extending well beyond the hardened criminals the administration claims to be targeting. He said it is hurting the nation’s agricultural sector by raising labor costs and decreasing production.
“Anyone who claims that this is not going to harm U.S. farmers, whether they’re running cattle in Arizona or in Hawaiʻi harvesting coffee, is astonishingly ill informed,” he said.
In June, Trump briefly called for a pause in immigration enforcement in certain industries, including on farms. But under pressure from his right-most flank, he quickly reversed course.
ICE did not respond to emailed questions about the impact of its immigration enforcement approach on agriculture, or about how many people it has arrested on the Big Island since Trump took office. At the start of May, ICE stopped providing details about where administrative arrests were made in Hawaiʻi, aside from those in correctional facilities."
https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/09/immigr...e-harvest/
"Smith called Trump’s campaign to deport millions of immigrants “an irrational policy,” extending well beyond the hardened criminals the administration claims to be targeting. He said it is hurting the nation’s agricultural sector by raising labor costs and decreasing production.
“Anyone who claims that this is not going to harm U.S. farmers, whether they’re running cattle in Arizona or in Hawaiʻi harvesting coffee, is astonishingly ill informed,” he said.
In June, Trump briefly called for a pause in immigration enforcement in certain industries, including on farms. But under pressure from his right-most flank, he quickly reversed course.
ICE did not respond to emailed questions about the impact of its immigration enforcement approach on agriculture, or about how many people it has arrested on the Big Island since Trump took office. At the start of May, ICE stopped providing details about where administrative arrests were made in Hawaiʻi, aside from those in correctional facilities."