Donald Trump’s immigration plan could affect the nation’s milk supply

*More than 40 percent of U.S. dairy farm workers are Latino immigrants. And it’s not just milk. Trump’s plan to deport the undocumented would wreak havoc on the nation’s food industry. Let’s start a list of the industries that would be hurt by Trump’s plans. VL

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By Laura Dolan and Jason Carroll, CNN Politics (3.2 munite read)

But Trump’s promise has sparked fear and frustration among farmers around the country, who, like it or not, depend on immigrant labor.

“I’m angry,” says dairy farmer Mike McMahon, who owns 700 cows in upstate New York, which is now the third-largest dairy producing state and the biggest producer of greek yogurt in the country.

“For someone like Trump or Cruz to say they are going to send them all back is short-sighted because so much of our food supply is dependent on their labor,” he said.

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[Photo By jrubinic/Flickr]

Suggested reading

  In this bilingual collection of short vignettes, García remembers her family’s life as migrant workers in the 1970s. Every year, they packed their red, Ford pick-up and left McAllen, Texas. The children’s excitement soon waned during the long drive through Texas, but grew as they passed the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and skyscrapers in Chicago. Finally, they arrived at their destination: the Ponderosa in Coloma, Michigan.

The family worked year in and year out for the same patrón, who allowed them to live in a house they called the Ponderosa, named for the big house in the TV show Bonanza. It was surrounded by fields full of fruits: an apple orchard lay to the east; a peach orchard was on the other side. There were strawberry patches, cherry trees and a grape vineyard.

García’s family worked long, back-breaking hours for a pittance, but they were together and their love for each other pulled them through. García was nine when her father found a full-time job in McAllen and their migrant life came to an end. “We missed the adventure of travel and sightseeing, but we didn’t miss the hard, back-breaking work.” Staying in one place allowed the kids to focus on school, ensuring that they never had to do that back-breaking work again. This is a heartfelt recollection of the life of migrant workers.

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