Concerns Raised in Pennsylvania Over ICE Raids on Farms

By John Cole

As U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) conducts raids on farms at the direction of the Trump administration, some lawmakers and agricultural organizations in Pennsylvania are criticizing the effort.

“This move could have devastating consequences for our nation’s food security,” Pennsylvania Farm Bureau President Chris Hoffman said in a statement. “Without a stable, dependable workforce, our fields will go unplanted, our crops unharvested, and our livestock uncared for. The dedicated men and women who work on our farms alongside our farmers are not just employees; they are the bedrock of our food supply chain.

“Any disruption to their ability to work threatens the availability and affordability of food for every American family,” he added. 

The organization has more than 25,000 members and is the largest agriculture organization in the state. Hoffman said he and his fellow farmers are “deeply concerned” about the reports that Trump’s administration, after a brief pause, would resume and continue ICE raids on farms, ranches and packing plants.

Bailey Fisher, the group’s federal affairs specialist, told the Capital-Star the organization is worried that the raids can impact agriculture when they are already facing a workforce shortage.

“Agriculture and the workforce is not something where you can just hire a new person every week. It takes a while to train that person, especially if they’re working with livestock,” Fisher said.

One example she noted was how some may not feel comfortable working with a dairy cow or may not have the background with large animals.

“So, it’s not just a matter of finding just somebody to milk your cow,” Fisher said. “It takes experience. It takes somebody who’s comfortable doing it, knowing the animal, knowing what the animal needs.”

“It’s not just something that anybody can do and that anybody wants to do,” she added.

Pennsylvania’s dairy industry is the number one segment of its agriculture economy, according to Pennsylvania’s Department of Agriculture.

Fisher said she has heard the calls for the industry to just “hire domestic” workers.

“We have tried that. Trust me, we have tried every possible solution you could think of, and the domestic workforce is just not there in the Ag industry,” Fisher said. “A lot of Americans, they prefer the office job over getting up at 4 a.m. to go milk a dairy cow or being out in the hot summer heat, picking lettuce, harvesting lettuce, or fruit, etc.”

Fisher said she’s seen reports about ICE raids on farms in other states, but as of Tuesday afternoon, has not received any calls about any recently taking place in Pennsylvania.

She said while the group’s members respect federal agents and federal officials, they should know their rights and have the paperwork prepared.

“So we’re telling them, ‘Don’t be disorganized. Have your information ready to go, if need be,’” Fisher said.

She said the Farm Bureau hasn’t sent out any guidance for supervisors and workers on how to handle a visit from ICE, but instead is leaving that up to the employers to seek their own legal guidance.

“We don’t really try to get involved in guiding them on legal issues like that,” she said.

The administration’s change of heart has rankled some members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation.

U.S. Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-Centre) represents the commonwealth’s rural 15th Congressional District. He called the raids earlier this month in some states “just wrong.”

Thompson, the first Pennsylvanian to chair the House Committee on Agriculture in nearly 170 years, is a Trump ally. But, he also realizes the potential impact on the country.

“They need to knock it off,” Thompson told reporters on June 12, according to POLITICO. “Let’s go after the criminals and give us time to put processes in place, so we don’t disrupt the food supply chain.”

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, has also been critical of the approach.

“I’ve been clear that we need to address the immigration crisis in our nation and keep violent criminals off our streets – but deporting the hardworking people who keep farms across our country afloat is not the solution,” Fetterman told the Capital-Star. “If we just round up the 40 percent of farmworkers who don’t have papers without a real plan, the only thing we’ll do is increase costs for families.”

“I’ve shared my concerns with Secretary (Brooke) Rollins and am grateful for her partnership as we continue protecting Pennsylvania farmers and farmworkers,” he added. “Instead of treating migrant labor as a political football, we need legislative reform to address this issue head on.”

One potential solution to Fetterman is the Affordable and Secure Food Act, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO). The proposal would provide a number of reforms, including extending the H-2A temporary agricultural worker program. The United States Department of Agriculture describes the program as one that “helps American farmers fill employment gaps by hiring workers from other countries.”

During a Q&A with the Capital-Star this past March, Thompson discussed the need to reform the H2-A program, saying it “does not help our year-round agriculture needs.”

Hoffman, the state Farm Bureau president, also called on Congress to prioritize H-2A visa reform and described the current system as “cumbersome, expensive, and fails to meet the year-round needs of modern agriculture.”

The American Immigration Council estimates that 196,100 undocumented migrants live in Pennsylvania, which is based on the most recently available census data from 2023. Just under 30,000 may work in the farming industry, according to estimates from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, which cites 2017 census data.

The Capital-Star reached out to Pennsylvania’s Department of Agriculture, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) and U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-8th District), a member of the House Agriculture Committee, for comment, but did not receive any responses. Thompson also did not respond to an additional request for comment.

Pennsylvania Capital Star is part of the States Newsroom, a network of similar news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.