Attacking immigrants is an attack on rural agricultural communities

Editor:

Congresswoman Claudia Tenney’s attacks on immigration has to be seen as an attack on small farms and our farming communities.

Cornell University reports that over 50% of farmworkers are undocumented immigrants. The lack of farmworkers is a major reason for farm bankruptcies. When the previous administration attacked immigration, farm bankruptcies drastically increased — a 20% increase in 2019. That was not an unintentional result of Mr. Trump’s immigration policy.

Indeed, Mark Krikorian, executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that advised the Trump administration, told the New York Times, (March 18, 2019), that their goal was to force small farms to consolidate.

A Study by the Union of Concerned Scientists, (published 4/14/21), reports that farm consolidation means: “jobs disappear, population shrinks, physical and social infrastructure weakens.”

Small family farms support our local schools and churches and provide economic vitality to our communities. Ms. Tenney’s attacks on immigration is an attack on our local communities.

William Fine

Brockport