President-elect Donald Trump’s promises for mass deportations of migrants who are in the United States illegally have families, employers, advocates, politicians, and law enforcement officials thinking about what could be ahead.
Mass deportations were a central tenet of Trump’s election campaign. That message connected with many voters who prioritized border security and immigration policies as they cited crime, competition for jobs, and strains on community resources for undocumented people.
Preparing Plants – Facilities across the country could be the subject of large-scale raids by law enforcement teams if Trump carries out his deportation declaration. Agriculture Dive looked at what plants should do ahead of time to prepare for possible raids, how they should make sure that search warrants are signed by a judge before abiding by them, what managers are and are not required to do when requested by law enforcement, and to remind workers that helping undocumented employees escape from authorities could be a crime.
Mexican Request -- President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico doesn’t want Trump to deport undocumented immigrants into her country if they were not previously Mexican citizens.
Sheinbaum wants an agreement with Trump to “send people who come from other countries to their countries of origin.”
In the past, Mexico has been willing to accept people who are deported from the United States if Cuba and Venezuela refused to accept them back into their countries, according to the Washington Post.
The report stated that there are an estimated 4 million Mexicans living in the United States without proper documentation.
New Entry – California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has announced a new legal point of entry between his state and Mexico. The Otay Mesa East Port of Entry will connect San Diego County to northern Mexico and is expected to be completed in 2027, according to Newsom’s staff.
The port could be a legal entry for workers to come across the border for jobs in California, as well as commercial goods. An estimated 60,000 people cross the border daily to work in the region, according to this report from ABC7-TV in San Francisco.
Newsom said that mass deportations would hurt industries like agriculture and construction, as well as consumers.
“The impacts of the cost of food in this state and in this nation are off the charts. This is serious business. Noo state will be impacted more,” Newsom said.
“The construction industry, where nationwide we estimate 13 percent of the folks out there are undocumented, will be hurt. We know states like California are significantly higher. It will impact the housing costs. This is serious business.”
Arizona Impact – About one in every 25 people living in Arizona are doing so illegally, according to USA Today reporting. That would represent about 250,000 people statewide.
What legal and logistical questions could arise from Trump’s plans for mass deportations if authorities target Arizona?
Michigan Crops – Apples and asparagus producers may wonder what could happen when mass deportation take place. Migrant workers may work 80-hour weeks during harvest, according to worker advocates in the state. They laboriously pick those crops by hand.
Harvests and grocery bills could both be adversely impacted if tens of thousands of agricultural workers are required to leave because they aren’t legally allowed to be employed in the United States.
