An immigrant’s role in agriculture

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Within just his first few weeks back in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump has held true to his campaign promise of tackling illegal immigration in the country.

Reports say between Trump’s inauguration and now, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers have carried out thousands of arrests.

Bitter cold this week

In South Dakota, many industries rely on immigrants to fill their labor force, especially the state’s biggest industry — agriculture.

Near Parker, there sits a farm that has been around since 1879 and Walt Bones is the fourth-generation to run it. He’s retired now, but his family continues the legacy. They also co-own the Turner County Dairy where many of the employees are immigrants.

“They’ve been just amazing. They really have been good. Hardworking, family values, Christian values. They just want to work and go home to their families,” Bones said.

He says it’s important the agriculture industry has people like that who are willing to do the labor-intensive work.

“They enjoy working with livestock, it’s hard to find sometimes,” Bones said. “You know, we can find a lot of folks that like to come out and maybe drive a truck or drive a tractor but to find workers that enjoy– men and women, doesn’t matter– but they enjoy working with livestock so we’re glad to have them. They do a great job.”

It’s not just dairy farmers that rely on migrant workers. Raymon Epp is a hay and hog farmer near Mission Hill, South Dakota. His farm is all handled within the family, but he sees the vital role migrant workers have in the pork industry.

“I’m involved with South Dakota Pork Producers so, you know, the hogs that we deliver up to Smithfield up there in Sioux Falls or down to Freemont, Nebraska, down there. And these establishments, many of them, employees are immigrants,” Epp said.

He says he has mixed feelings about the crackdowns happening on illegal immigrants.

“You are going to have some that, okay, if you’re not playing according to rules, yes,” Epp said. “And that’s the critical factor here is that not just everyone is punished for a few. Because, like I say, that will drastically affect farm income.”

Just a few miles away from Epp, another hog farmer, Jim Petrik, has similar feelings.

“This whole immigration debate is, it’s tough for me because, you know, there’s not many farmers that are anti-immigration because obviously we all have ancestors that did the same thing,” Petrik said. “But I do very truly well understand that, you know, we need to sift the list before we just open the door for folks. You know, politics just get in the way of good things sometimes and that’s what’s frustrating.”

Petrik’s farm is also mostly run by his family, though he says he has looked into the H-2A Visas for migrant workers in the past. But those are nine month visas, which Petrik says makes it challenging.

“But for livestock operations like ours, and especially in like the dairy industry, and if you’re farrowing and birthing baby pigs, you know, that’s labor intensive every week of the year,” Petrik said. “That really frustrates me that H-2A visa, why they couldn’t do a 12 month version of that to get capable livestock people to bring in to help with livestock operations.”

Bones also pointed out that challenge with visas, as well as the challenges with citizenship.

“A number of our folks have gone through citizenship thing,” Bones said. “It’s expensive. It’s time-consuming. It’s burdensome. I mean, it’s a real challenge for them to get that all done.”

He says he’s not worried about the immigration crackdowns, though.

“I like the fact that we’re going to get rid of the bad actors, you know, I think that’s a good thing. We’ve got some folks that are here and are trying to, you know, contribute to society. I don’t think that’s the target that the President’s after right now,” Bones said. “Our immigration system is absolutely broke, there’s no doubt about it.”

Bones isn’t alone in that thought.

“I just wish both sides could get together and kind of work their way through this because, you know, good Lord, we all know that we need good, capable, hardworking people out here in agriculture because it’s not particularly glamorous work and the hours are pretty crazy sometimes,” Petrik said. “You just need people with great work ethic and desire so I wish we could move passed some of the road blocks that both sides set up and make it a little easier to get good people and make it easier to retain them and keep them around.”

“Sometimes rapid change does not have good results,” Epp said. “Yes, things need to be corrected, but let’s do it in a fashion that’s inclusive, not exclusive.”