Rancher associations cite ICE ‘chilling effect’ on agricultural workforce
Senator Jim Justice, a Republican from West Virginia and close political ally of President Donald Trump, urged the administration Tuesday to “step back” from its immigration enforcement agenda and reassess what it could do better, breaking from the White House in remarks that drew on his seat on the Senate agriculture committee and on findings from state and industry critics of ICE operations in rural America.
“To get better, the first thing you got to do is admit you’re doing something wrong,” Justice told Politico. “And in this situation, with all that’s going on and all the stuff, we probably got to step back from it and say: ‘Maybe we’re doing something wrong here or there,’ and then adjust to that.”
Justice, who also sits on the Senate agriculture committee, said enforcement operations had produced outcomes he found troubling. “Before you know it, you get people that get carried away in their job and whatever it may be, and all of a sudden, then you’re dragging people away that have lived on your street corner for 15 years, and I don’t know that we need to be doing that stuff,” he told Politico.
His comments came after three rancher associations — the Kansas Livestock Association, Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association and Texas Cattle Feeders Association — said in a statement released last week that ICE operations have had “a massive chilling effect on the legal, documented, skilled workers” who assist in beef production and the cattle supply chain. West Virginia is home to more than 22,700 ranchers, most of which are family-owned.
Justice’s remarks also followed an ACLU of West Virginia investigation that found about three-quarters of the more than 593 people arrested by ICE in the state during “Operation Country Roads” in January had no criminal record. The ACLU’s findings were cited by The Guardian in its reporting.
Dairy farmers have separately raised concerns that ICE operations in rural areas could disrupt their industries. “If we had a concerted effort to have enforcement activities within agriculture, you could really harm our ability to produce food to feed ourselves,” Rick Naerebout, the CEO of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, told NPR.
Justice’s criticism makes him the latest Republican to distance himself from Trump’s immigration enforcement ahead of the midterm elections. Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida recently ran a campaign advertisement telling Trump that his “immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far.”
Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda is a signature policy of his administration. Many voters indicated they wanted stricter immigration policies, but the intense tactics of federal agents have sparked anger nationwide, according to The Guardian’s reporting. The Guardian said it had asked the White House for a response.