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THE FORUM DAILY
With ongoing labor shortages, many farmers (and those of us who eat) continue to rely on foreign-born workers. The phasing out of H-2A agricultural visas, as one proposal suggests, could have disastrous ramifications for the U.S. agricultural industry, reports Chuck Abbott of Successful Farming.
Project 2025, from the Heritage Foundation, outlines suggestions for a possible second term for Donald Trump and includes such a phaseout.
Abbott highlights the work of a bipartisan working group in the House to advocate for the continued implementation and expansion of the H-2A visa. Estimates suggest that half of the agricultural workforce consists of undocumented workers.
"One thing that has become clear is the need for dairy products, meat processors, sugar processors, forestry, ranchers, and others to have access to a steady and legal workforce," the working group, composed of members of the House Agriculture Committee, wrote.
Extreme heat may be exacerbating farm labor shortages in some states as older workers stay out of the fields, reports Jessica Meszaros of WUSF. In a report last month, the American Immigration Council found that farmers in states such as Florida, Arizona, California and Texas are asking for more workers to come through the H-2A program. Requests from Florida alone doubled between 2017 and 2022.
"When we look at Florida in particular, we noticed that [...] over 20% of workers worked in conditions where the heat was over 90 degrees or hotter, which produces illnesses. You get heatstroke, other signs of illnesses," said Steven Hubbard, senior data scientist at the American Immigration Council.
Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s strategic communications VP, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Jillian Clark, Samantha Siedow, Darika Verdugo and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
FAITH VS. POLITICS — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against Annunciation House in El Paso serves as an example of tensions that arise when politics collide with faith communities that help migrants, Laura E. Alexander writes in The Conversation. Alexander, an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, notes that welcoming outsiders is central in many faith traditions. "In citing religious principles that motivate them to provide this aid, staff and supporters of Annunciation House are the latest in a long line of religious people who have said the same,"
she writes.
CONTRADICTIONS — Limiting immigration would increase the national debt and be painful for taxpayers, Arthur Sants writes in Investors' Chronicle. "Right-wing politicians in the U.S. and U.K. campaign on policies of reducing immigration and cutting taxes for corporations, but these policies are incongruous," he writes. "Debt must be paid eventually. And if tax revenues do not come from corporations or an increasing number of working immigrants, then it must come from raising taxes on the shrinking number of native workers."
JOBS, ACTUALLY — Columnist Paul Krugman underscores some of the same economic points in The New York Times. Yes, native-born adults have made up a slightly smaller percentage of the labor force in recent years — but that’s because baby boomers are retiring. "We’ve been able to achieve large increases in overall employment only because working-age immigrants have been coming to America. If we didn’t have the immigrants, we wouldn’t have the jobs," Krugman writes.
ART AND WELCOME — A new exhibit at the Atlantic Works Gallery in East Boston showcases immigrant stories, Maria Jose Gutierrez Chavez reports in The Boston Globe. "Roots of Passage: Artists Examine Immigration" comprises works by members of the artist-run collaborative as well as guest artists. It continues through Aug. 17.
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