NEBRASKA Farmers CHEERED Deportations—Now Their Farms Are COLLAPSING Without Immigrant Workers

[00:00:00]Nebraska's biggest part of their economy and GDP is farming.

[00:00:04]>> Right.

[00:00:06]>> And they said 45 to 65% of the workforce is undocumented.

[00:00:13]>> 45 to 65%?

[00:00:15]>> Yes.

[00:00:15]>> So >> Oh, >> with all with Trump rounding up illegals what have those illegal immigrants done? They jump ship. They don't want to get raided while they're working.

[00:00:27]>> No.

[00:00:28]>> They don't want their fa- They don't want to get families broken up.

[00:00:30]>> Wow. So now you did >> They So they predicted that Nebraska is two quarters away from being [snorts] bankrupt. The whole state. Cuz there's no workers. Half of their workforce is undocumented immigrants.

[00:00:43]So now Nebraska is in a panic, is in a uproar.

[00:00:47]And most of them farmers are Trump supporters. They got exactly what they voted for. If all these illegals were taking your jobs, why don't you go fill and do the shitty jobs they were doing for less than minimum wage? If these illegal immigrants were taking your jobs. There's all these jobs available.

[00:01:01]You can do it. To work slave hours at slave wages. You can do it.

[00:01:04]>> They literally bit their nose to spite their face. Like they directly voted to deport the illegals and now the illegals they didn't even wait for deportation.

[00:01:13]They working somewhere else. I hope they don't want any government handouts cuz that's socialism. They hate socialism.

[00:01:17]Hope they don't want any government handouts. Pull yourselves up by your bootstraps. What's going to end up happening is these corporate these corporations are going to come buy your farm >> Mhm.

[00:01:26]>> and you going to work that farm. And you going to be working for the corporations. They're going to buy it for pennies on a dollar and you going to be working your farm and you're not going to own it no >> So maybe this is another unpopular opinion, but I feel like you should have to live with the repercussions of your vote. And if you don't want to live with the repercussions of your vote, maybe you should actually vote a different way. But if you do vote that way, then you should have to live with that repercussion of your vote. And if it causes you to go bankrupt and for you to lose everything, then so be it. That is on you. So I hope going forward that you've learned from this and that you will vote a different way and vote for something that actually is for your best interest.

[00:02:01]Most likely you probably won't.

[00:02:04]I guess we'll see.

[00:02:06]>> So, for all the farmers that live in Nebraska, you voted for Trump knowing that 70% of [gasps] your workforce on your farms are migrants.

[00:02:19]Now, apparently Nebraska only has is 6 months away from from bankruptcy.

[00:02:27]You voted for the mass deportation of 70% of your workforce on your farms and now are complaining that your farms and your livelihood will not survive it.

[00:02:45]>> Nebraska farmers cheered deportations.

[00:02:47]Now their farms are dying without immigrants.

[00:02:50]They said, "Deport them all." Now they are asking, "Who's going to milk milk the cows, harvest the crops, and keep the farms running?" Funny how reality has a way of interrupting political slogans. Welcome back to Global Views with Josh, where we dig beneath the headlines and talk about the stories shaping America and the world. If you enjoy thoughtful political commentary and current events, don't forget to like this video, subscribe to the channel, and join the conversation in the comments below. Let's get into it.

[00:03:19]>> My, my, my. Farmers sure are going through it.

[00:03:22]>> It's been harder and harder and harder to find those people to work.

[00:03:26]>> Bethany Gotts owns Quaise Farm in Mountain Home, but now with fewer workers, a lot of the manual labor is left up to her. She tells me she's tried hiring locally, but it's been difficult to find people willing to do the hard work.

[00:03:40]>> Finding a legal American here that is going to work as hard as an immigrant is nearly impossible.

[00:03:48]>> She even posted job openings on Facebook.

[00:03:50]>> I had seven people contact me about it and when I sent them the description, I had no people respond.

[00:03:56]>> She says hiring undocumented workers is not an option.

[00:04:00]>> With serious farmers cannot find help since number 47 has either deported or scared everyone away. Even people who can work don't want to go work on a farm. Farmers have gotten screwed. Their fertilizer is 40% higher. That's if they can even get it. Gas prices, aka diesel for them is higher. They've been screwed with tariffs. They got screwed in their trade deal. They got a $12 billion bailout, but that didn't really do anything for them expect to dig in your pocket more for farmers. And yes, yes, a majority of them voted not one time, not two times, but three times and a majority of them still support this administration. I think it's really unfortunate that some people have to learn lessons extreme like this. I know I don't. Hit me on the head one time and I get it. How about you? Do you feel sorry for these farmers? At this point, the nasty comments that I get, the nastiness of Trump supporters, they have really taken away my empathy, which is saying a lot. If you found this post informative, please like, comment, follow, and share.

[00:05:11]>> It's just been harder and harder and harder to find those people to work.

[00:05:15]>> Bethany Goetz owns Goetz Farm in Mountain Home, but now with fewer workers, a lot of the manual labor is left up to her. She tells me she's tried hiring locally, but it's been difficult to find people willing to do the hard work.

[00:05:29]>> Finding a legal American here that is going to work as hard as an immigrant is nearly impossible.

[00:05:37]>> She even posted job openings on Facebook.

[00:05:39]>> Wow, so many things in that video. Okay, first what she actually meant was illegal immigrant workers because she does later on say that she is now being forced to apply for the H-2 visa program, and she's actually building, I believe, spending up to like $200,000 building these living quarters for the people if she can bring them over on the H-2 visa. So, here's what happens on these farms. By the way, this has been a thing for a very long time.

[00:06:09]Uh so, this actually happened back in 2021, I believe. And what happens are they rely on this work from illegal immigrants, and then they get used to that whole situation. And now, when that situation changes, they now have to figure out what to do. So, they can pay lower wages, they bring down the wages, which basically makes that the norm in that industry. It lowers the wages, and also, if you're hiring people that are undocumented, you don't have to abide by labor laws. And some of the conditions, I'm not saying hers, but on these farms that have been investigated here in the US, excuse me, not good. And it says, "Farm workers in the US, especially immigrant workers, have few protections.

[00:06:53]They were excluded from the National Labor Relations Act passed in 1935 and from the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Workers in America's agricultural fields are regularly subjected to abuses, high occurrences of and harassment, wage theft, including injuries, fatalities, being exposed to hazardous situations, all >> Racism is expensive.

[00:07:23]And corporations and billionaires don't care about you.

[00:07:30]This is probably breaking news to many who support and applaud mass deportations.

[00:07:39]Well, the people in Nebraska, the state of Nebraska, is starting to find out how expensive both of those things are, how expensive racism is, and how much corporations and the billionaires don't care about the working class, minorities, poor people, black people, and other non-billionaires.

[00:08:10]Well, here we go.

[00:08:12]So, I hear Nebraska is on the brink of of bankruptcy.

[00:08:17]Uh although it seems that they have found a little band-aid to put on their self-inflicted gashing wound by choosing and supporting mass deportations, which hurts their farms, because it takes away the migrant workers who, instead of waiting for ICE agents to go and round them up, and jam-pack them into the some of those private prisons like CoreCivic, and enrich continue to enrich the billionaires while they lose their uh their their while they farmers lose their workers, the migrants decided to self-deport to places where they can be and uh and be okay, and not be in a community in communities of people who applaud and support mass deportations.

[00:09:26]So, I guess those migrants were taking people's jobs. Where are those people?

[00:09:33]Come and take take the the They're there. The jobs are available.

[00:09:38]Why are these states Why is Nebraska potentially going bankrupt? Why are so much of America's farming country going um belly up?

[00:09:52]Yeah.

[00:09:53]Racism is expensive.

[00:09:55]And like they say, "Eff around, find out."

[00:10:02]Um but I hope this is a lesson to everybody that is um in support of and applaud um mass deportations and mass incarceration.

[00:10:13]Uh people who in a haste to get rid of the people they do not like or to hurt people they don't like end up hurting themselves.

[00:10:25]Um you know, with racism and xenophobia and um all of these other things that um were part of this um this uh part past election. By the way, I'm not um although MAGA is super excited about um these mass deportations, the corporate Democrats were weren't too far away from them either. They were busy chasing MAGA to the right, especially on the issue of immigration.

[00:11:04]So, I I'm not going to uh act like I didn't see it or that it didn't happen or that um the uh Democratic Party wasn't campaigning on uh potentially doing uh harm to migrants and immigrants either.

[00:11:21]And at the end of the day, you know, there was also another choice other than the corporate Democrats or MAGA, and there was the Green Party. Most people probably did not pay attention to it. Um but if you look at their platform, it actually is in favor of the working class. It's in favor of minorities. It's in favor of the majority of um America.

[00:11:53]To where you can see their platform is not in service of the billionaires unlike the two major parties, the duopoly.

[00:12:04]So, all that to say though, when you make choices and you make choices that hurt people and at the same time you depend on those people, you're cutting your nose off to to spite your face.

[00:12:20]And at this time, let me just ask Nebraska and everybody cuz I know um I recognize everybody in America is going to be affected by uh farming issues.

[00:12:36]However, everybody that supports all of these bigotry, all of the mass deportations, mass incarceration, uh racism, uh racist policies, and all of that, and who are being affected now, let me just ask you to pull yourselves up by your bootstraps.

[00:13:01]>> Someone please go check on Nebraska. Do you guys know what's going on over there?

[00:13:07]And if you don't know what's going on, that's why you have me so I can explain it to you. But básicamente, Nebraska is about to go bankrupt in 6 months. And sorry, I don't mean to smile. It's just a little ironic because majority of Nebraska voted for you know who, el pendejo, right?

[00:13:24]Majority of Nebraska is like, does anybody care about us? Like, we're about to go bankrupt in 6 months."

[00:13:32]And the reason why they're about to go bankrupt is because the majority of the workforce in Nebraska is built off Who do you think? The vast of Latinos, right? That are undocumented and they're scared to go to work.

[00:13:44]And they're not giving any money to the farmers, so their agriculture is dead.

[00:13:50]They're like And they're like, "Who cares? Like, can somebody come and help us?"

[00:13:56]No, mijo.

[00:13:57]I have no pity for you.

[00:13:59]>> What else can we help you with now that we took care of the immigration issue?

[00:14:02]Can you bring them back? What? We need more workers. Apparently, Americans don't want to do the jobs that immigrants were doing. But, you've already spent billions on deporting them. It costs $18,000 to deport one person. Damn. Appreciate you paying taxes. So, how much does it cost to undeport? That's not possible. Well, you got to do something. There's a labor shortage. Okay.

[00:14:23]Uh I guess we can make it easier for immigrants to come work here with the H-2A visa.

[00:14:27]>> That was an option.

[00:14:28]>> Yeah, but it will cause more immigrants to come into the US, allow us to exploit workers, and lower wages for American workers. Why don't you just legalize the undocumented immigrants that are already here? That way they can work and pay taxes legally. We obviously need them cuz then we wouldn't be able to blame immigrants for everything.

[00:14:46]>> Also, ICE detention centers are making hundreds of millions in profit. It's a big business.

[00:14:51]>> Things haven't gotten cheaper since these mass deportations started now that I think about it. Matter of fact, everything's gotten more expensive. Just be thankful you have a job. You're welcome.

[00:15:00]>> Actually, I just filed for bankruptcy.

[00:15:02]>> Oh.

[00:15:03]>> You're still my guy, though. Make farmers great.

[00:15:05]>> For many years, many politicians promised that mass deportations would solve America's problem. Some farming communities, including many in the states like Nebraska, strategically supported tougher immigration enforcement, believing it would protect American jobs and strengthen the economy.

[00:15:22]But now, many agricultural employers say they are facing severe labor shortages.

[00:15:28]And some are warning that their businesses are under significant strain as experienced workers become harder to find or are afraid to come to work.

[00:15:38]Who could have possibly seen this coming?

[00:15:40]Well, just about every agricultural economist, farming association, and labor expert who has been saying for years that America's food system relies heavily on immigrant labor. Apparently, facts just weren't as exciting as campaign rallies. Now, here's the reality. Agriculture is physically demanding work. It often involves long hours and difficult working conditions, seasonal schedules, and tasks that many employers have struggled to fill with domestic workers alone. Across the United States, immigrant workers, many with years of experience, have become an essential part of planting, harvesting, processing, and livestock operations.

[00:16:22]When those workers disappear, farms don't simply replace them overnight.

[00:16:27]Crops don't wait. Livestock don't wait.

[00:16:29]Bills certainly don't wait. Some farmers have reportedly have reported leaving crops unharvested because they couldn't find enough workers. Others have reduced production or delayed expansion plans because labor has become increasingly difficult to secure. Now, that's not political theater. That's economics. An economist has a way of ignoring campaign slogans. Now, there's a certain irony here that's difficult to overlook.

[00:16:58]Some people applauded policies designed to remove large portions of the agricultural workforce while assuming someone else would magically appear to do the work. Spoiler alert, that someone else never showed up. Turns out shouting "America first" doesn't automatically fill a tractor seat at 5:00 in the morning or convince people to spend 10 hours picking crops in the summer heat.

[00:17:22]Who knew?

[00:17:23]Many farming organizations have repeatedly called for reforms to legal agricultural workers program, arguing that farms need a stable and lawful workforce to remain competitive. This isn't a few This isn't a a new concern.

[00:17:38]It's one that has been raised across administrations of both major political parties. Food production depends on people. It's really that simple. And when experienced workers leave, productivity often falls, costs rise, and consumers may ultimately see higher prices at the grocery store. So, the consequences don't stop at the farm gate. They ripple through the economy.

[00:18:01]Now, the bigger question is whether political messaging matched economic reality. It's one thing to campaign on border security and immigration enforcement. It's another thing to implement policies without considering how labor-intensive industries, especially agriculture, will adapt.

[00:18:16]Those are policy traders that deserve serious discussions. Instead, too often the debate becomes reduced to slogans rather than the practical solution.

[00:18:26]Look, no one wins when farms struggle to stay productive. Not the farmers, not the workers, not consumers paying more for food for food, and certainly not rural communities that depend on agriculture to survive. If there's one lesson here, IT'S THAT COMPLEX economic systems rarely respond well to simple political catchphrases. It's easy to cheer dramatic promises during election season. It's much harder when [clears throat] payroll can't be filled, equipment sits idle, and production slows. Reality eventually sends the invoice. Now, the situation also highlights something broader about policymaking. Every major decision creates consequences, intended and unintended. The question isn't whether immigration should be managed. Every Every has a right, of course, to enforce its immigration laws and maintain secure borders, okay? Don't get us wrong. Every country has that right. But the challenge is balancing enforcement with the labor needs of industries that have long depended on immigrant workers.

[00:19:26]Ignoring either side of that equation can create significant economic disruptions. While our policy makers pursue expanded [clears throat] legal work programs, immigration reforms, stronger border enforcement, or some combination of those approaches, sustainable solutions require acknowledging how interconnected the economy has become.

[00:19:46]Look, political applause doesn't harvest corn. Campaign speeches don't process beef.

[00:19:51]Hashtags don't make dairy cows. People do. And that's a reality no amount of political branding can erase. So, that's my take. What do you think? Should the United States expand legal pathways for agricultural workers while maintaining broader security? Did some political leaders underestimate the impact that immigration enforcement could have on the farming industry? And can American agricultural economy realistically function without a significant immigrant workforce? Share your thoughts in the comments below. If you enjoyed this discussion, don't forget to like, subscribe to Global Views with Josh, and turn on notifications so you never miss our next deep dive into the stories everyone is talking about. Until next time, thanks for watching. Credit belongs to original creators, and I'll see you in the next video. Cheers.