Love the flop-sweat smell, ICE!
She's asking the right questions. Sadly, slavery IS a staffing issue. It's quite popular on farms. And it's not caused by "hiring illegals."
The US's biggest modern slavery case was 100% workers who came legally.
I'm an American & former farm worker. Let's talk!
To come to the US legally? Farm workers are supposed to get an H-2A visa.
In theory, H-2A visas are fine. They're supposed to work like a temp agency/worker-to-workplace matching service.
But in reality? So many H-2A workers are abused, extorted, cheated, raped, & held prisoner on the job.
Here's a brief piece on how over 100 people who went through the entire proper H-2A documentation process to enter the US legally, still wound up in slavery.
Sorry to my colleagues in agriculture, who might not like that I'm being so point-blank about this.
We're supposed to act surprised, like we don't know this is happening in our own labor force.
But folks, we've GOT to stop pussyfooting around with how our own industry works.
This is reality. We can deal with reality, or keep getting "surprised" by it & left behind.
Widespread abuses are why Biden made updates to the H-2A guest worker program. Basic stuff: minimum wage enforcement. "If people are living on your property they need plumbing." "Don't take their passports."
To stop more slavery rings from happening!
And you know what Trump just did?
He just overturned all those updates. Back in June 2025.
Now, the system for *legal* farm immigration is back to the free-for-all that let people build a $200M slavery business in Georgia- with a license from the federal government.
Maybe people get confused on what "ending slavery" looks like.
It doesn't come from grand sweeping gestures, declarations, & press conferences.
Freedom comes from follow-through. If someone's getting beaten on the job, there has to be a number they can call.
And someone has to pick up the phone.
Matter of fact, the US has a whole federal holiday dedicated to how "making an official declaration that slavery's over" isn't enough. You have to actually go to the plantations to see to it people are freed for real.
Juneteenth!
Just in case you were wondering why they want to cancel that too 💀
Anyway. To actually end slavery, you need a way for people who are being beaten, not paid, held hostage, etc at work to get help & get out. At least a hotline or something.
And Trump fired the folks whose job it was to pick up the phone... 6 months ago.
The Department of Labor terminated employees across at least six departments in recent weeks, potentially curbing the agency’s ability to conduct inspections and ensure fair pay and safety for workers, according to three sources familiar with the moves.
So if ICE's tweet has the energy of a sweaty "Nuh-uhhh, I know you are but what am I?"
That's why!
The Trump administration just gutted critical anti-slavery protections for legal, documented farm workers.
And then they fired the people who enforced the ones we had left.
Now how's that link up to the ol' "Who will pick our crops" question?
These days I'm a small farmer. There's a saying in agriculture. "It doesn't matter what the laws are. Farmers will still get their workers one way or another."
So "Who will pick our crops?" is exactly what we should be asking.
I came up as a farm worker. So I've been pretty open about how Americans absolutely DO take farm jobs- when they're worth having.
I would know! That's what I did.
If you want to know how that works, I talk about it here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdZfYMIv3iM&t=1s
Will we build a farm sector that offers jobs that free people can build our lives with? Or will we keep building jobs that only seem worthwhile to desperate people with no other options?
If only immigrants take these jobs, how do they get here?
What are the circumstances they work under?
Rep. Greenfield is asking exactly the right questions.
If the US is going to feed itself, there are farm jobs that have to be done. So how are we gonna do it?
No, really! How?
Who's going to do the work? What will their lives be like?
The folks in charge of the US right now DO NOT want people asking asking these questions. Because they just low key made slavery great again.
They're desperate to turn it around.
That's why if you dare to ask "Who will pick the crops?" the folks who just re-legalized slavery… call you pro-crime.
Final note, I love that ICE, even at their most flustered, still puts a "Knowingly" in front of "hiring illegal workers is a crime."
That way they can talk all big & bad, but employers still feel safe bc all they have to do is go 👉👈 omg officer I had NO IDEA they were undocumented
That doesn't fly if they are paying them
@sarahtaber I’ve thought this for a long time. Your construction crew has undocumented workers? Pull the permit for 30 days. Let the contractor pay on that construction loan longer.
It was just the subcontractors? Too bad, it’s a crime
Chicken processing plant? Closed for 30 days.
After X violations you lose your business license.
If we wanted to stop it we would. If republicans really hated it they’d go after the source.
And to be clear I don’t think this is a good idea. But it’s also no more draconian than drug asset seizure laws.
This was an excellent read, thanks so much for writing this. America has never completely ended slavery and this shows how it's happening right in front of us out in the open today.💯
I think they intend to replace the undocumented workers with forced labor on a large scale.
@sarahtaber
And I might have a probable answer.
Ukraine will get a “deal you can't refuse” missiles for grain (apart from the missiles-for-minerals one).
No farm workers even needed, just antagonize two groups of people in deep shit, and add a third: previous agricultural client's of Ukraine from Africa.
@sarahtaber It's worth noting that as I understand, the Democrats want the "Way for people who are beaten, not paid, held hostage, etc at work to get help and get out" to be...legal.
It's been glossed over that the Underground Railroad was, you know, illegal at the time (Given the Fugitive Slave Act.).
Before the party political leaning switch, the Democrats had...experience with making the good thing illegal; it was not a good look.
System works as intended.
The fundamental essence of capitalism is slavery. No one should be all that surprised when a business goes in that direction.
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