The cynic in me thinks that this is a way for bigger farms to gobble up smaller farms by calling in ice but knowing that they will be able to keep ice from raiding them unless a bigger farm pays to have them raided.

> They trust that their bigger political clout will let them continue to employee undocumented migrant workers at wages no one else will work for?

Yes, this is exactly what will happen.

Wait it out. Cropland is a solid asset. Lots of soybean farmland for sale in my neck of the woods.

> "[...] but I do wonder 'and then what?'"

America's prison industry, one of the Trump administration's biggest profiteers, might have some relevant answers for you. ;)

But Americans are subject to labor laws and minimum wage and break times and so forth, so how is this a factor in whether or not they want to do the work? You'll get paid minimum wage and have breaks.

And when people ask where is the money going to come from it’s very easy to point out the ever growing wealth gap and immoral levels of wealth our billionaire class has. But that never happens, and this meaningless left / right dichotomy continues to distract the population.

A few less iPhones and a few more automated farms. Billionaires would be hardest hit unfortunately.

Look at UC Davis Gifford Center’s April 2024 “Farm Labor Issues in the 2020s” summary report: https://gifford.ucdavis.edu/events/past/april-4-2024-farm-la...

Very few U.S.-born workers respond to job ads for seasonal crop work, Show up when work begins, or Stick around through the harvest season. "Even when wages reach—or exceed $20–$30 per hour, seasonal U.S. workers overwhelmingly opt out of field labor. That persistent gap is why American agriculture depends so heavily on immigrant and guest‐worker programs, and why mechanization continues to accelerate."

There's a funny video associated with this campaign from 2010 https://ufw.org/allvoices-colbert-says-always-wanted-a-farm-...

This is what the private equity industry exists to do (particularly firms with strategies like distressed, roll-ups, take-privates, etc).

They raise funds from large pools of capital, like endowments and pension funds, and they invest it into assets they identify as undervalued or underproducing.

When there is a crash in an asset class, private equity has often stepped in to buy assets at firesale prices from forced sellers.

Wait. Do you believe that right now, there are no large entities around with vast amounts of funds that they are looking to invest? None?

Oh, it's parked somewhere - Treasury bonds, the stock market, or something. It's still liquid enough to buy a deeply discounted asset when you see one, though.

I support your right to your position, but also support doing nothing as rural america infrastructure is rapidly evaporated, first healthcare and then whatever else remains (because what will when the closest medical provider is hours away). It’s the only way people who think this matters (“do it the legal way” even though it’s borderline impossible and extremely expensive) will then understand food supply infrastructure is more important than residency status of the only people who will do these jobs, but maybe not.

Unless you’re a Native American, you’re an immigrant too.

Well, I enjoy having food available, so I do care about the effect of throwing a bomb into the agricultural workforce without any apparent planning or regard for the consequences.

They, presumably, meant the side effects for the farm owners.

A lot of people voted to have their business ruined, and seem upset that it happened.

First, the plurality of illegal immigrants in the US are people who entered the country legally but have overstayed their visas. There's not a lot of sneaking into a different person's country to do work.

Second, there is no "legal line" for immigration. The closest you get is that some visas where conversion to a permanent residency (green card) has an annual quota that is so heavily oversubscribed that there is a permanent backlog which stretches, in the most extreme cases, to over 20 years long.

Third, even when you're dealing with the legal immigration processes, that process is a bureaucratic hell that I don't wish on anybody. If you don't have anybody willing to descend into paperwork hell for you, then there is no way for you to immigrate to the US.

> Well, except the fact, they snuck into a different person’s home (country)

Not true - false analogy

> while hundreds of thousands are waiting in the legal line.

Again - the legal line is fake too

It would be one thing if it were some kind of sacrifice to have immigrants, but if all the undocumented immigrants disappeared, we would be substantially worse off as a country. We would have a shrinking, aging population.

The system of rules they are breaking is kept slow, arbitrary, and complex so that we can benefit from their labor without granting all the rights of being US citizens. This is so that they can be illegally exploited, but also because of the anxieties Americans have about the dilution of their culture (and to some, their bloodlines) by other ethnicities.

We didn't always have a system like this. It evolved into what it is, and now people feel morally righteous about upholding laws their own ancestors never were subject to.

And not a small number of people who did navigate the system but want everyone to have to pay the same dues. It's reminiscent to me of the folks with 4 year engineering degrees feeling salty that other folks have gotten into the industry through bootcamps, for a fraction of the time and money.

Okay, so let's make it a lot easier to immigrate legally. Except that's not what the Right is doing at the moment. They're simultaneously attacking legal, "the right way" immigration, and illegal immigration, because they don't care about "fair and legal" anything, they're just racist.

This is just ignorant to how Congress has dropped the ball when it comes to funding a functional immigration system which provides for a speedy process. It is almost as if there is an economic interest to keep labor cheap via undocumented workers which is not alleviated at all through these raids, but does increase costs while undermining the US economy.

People care about their wallets though and this whole situation isn't exactly fattening them.

It'll be interesting to see how this "screw the farmers" tactic plays out in the midterms.

I think overstaying visas is a significant issue in America and one of the reasons they have so many illegal immigrants.