Immigration enforcement operations on farms have left crops rotting and farm operations disrupted in major agricultural states including California, Texas, and Pennsylvania.
Farm owners and industry representatives report that up to 70 percent of workers stopped reporting to work following Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions, resulting in significant crop losses and financial strain.
"We do not have enough workforce in the United States to do manual work, to do those jobs that other people are not qualified to do and do not want to do it," Alexandra Sossa, CEO of Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project, told Newsweek. "For example, we are running into a problem where we do not have enough farm workers to grow the food we eat every day.
That's when my student loan debt was at its peak. Great way to start out.