‘We wouldn’t be able to feed ourselves as a country.’ Idaho dairy industry concerned about mass deportation

IDAHO — Immigration reform was a major issue during the presidential election. According to a Pew Research study, Americans cited crime, fairness and limited resources as reasons undocumented immigrants should be deported.

Others, like the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, are concerned about these plans.

According to the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, Idaho dairy generates over $10 billion in total sales each year. It’s an industry that relies heavily on undocumented workers.

If immigrants who are in America illegally are deported at large, the association’s CEO said all of us Americans will feel the affects.

“We would be put in a position where we wouldn’t even be able to feed ourselves as a country going forward,” said Idaho Dairymen’s Association CEO Rick Naerebout said.

Fears like these reign over many agricultural sectors across the country, especially dairy farms.

“When you look at industries like dairy, where we don’t have access to a visa program, where we’re a year-round employer and year-round employers are prohibited from using the H-2A visa program, which is designed for agriculture, our percentages of unauthorized individuals is going to be much higher than 50%,” Naerebout said.

Naerebout says deporting all of these undocumented immigrants would be devastating to more than just these farms.

“You would see significant inflation on food prices across the board just because you would remove a significant portion of the on-farm workforce,” he said.

Idaho Governor Brad Little has been vocal about his support for President Trump’s mass deportation plans. During his visit to North Idaho in early January, 4 News Now asked him how he felt about these concerns.

“I have advocated and I will continue to advocate that we have an H-2A program that works for the dairy industry,” Gov. Little said. “I’ve been advising them that for a long time. I will fully engage with Congress and with the administration that that’s what we need to do.”

Idaho Dairymen’s Association said this is something it has been wanting. But, just this month, House Bill 11 was introduced into the Idaho legislature. HB 11 calls for stricter enforcement of the state’s immigration laws, something that Idaho Dairymen’s Association is opposed to.

“There has to be more than just an enforcement approach to this problem,” Naerebout said. “Then we have to find ways to solve it and ways to provide legal avenues for immigrants to come into this country and fill jobs that domestic workers don’t want to fill.”