Three organizations representing thousands of ranchers in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas issued a joint statement Friday warning operations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are disrupting the agricultural community and will make beef prices spike again. Their statement is the beef’s industry latest salvo against policies and actions by the Trump administration.
The Texas Cattle Feeders Association, Kansas Livestock Association, and Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association said they are closely monitoring ICE’s activity and the impacts it’s creating. They described hearing reports of delays in shipping thousands of cattle to processors and workforce disruptions in important links of the supply chains such as dairies, feedyards, transportation hubs as well as feed and grain companies.
“These ICE operations are having a massive chilling effect on the legal, documented, skilled workers that put beef on the table and keep the supply chain moving,” the groups said. “Additionally, these types of disruptions will lead to higher beef prices for consumers.”
The ranchers’ statement about ICE is just the latest complaint they’ve had about the Trump administration’s impacts that they say are hurting the beef industry.
As beef prices reached record highs this year and the U.S. cattle herd shrunk to its lowest in 75 years, there has been a growing discontent among ranchers about some of the policies made by President Donald Trump. Most recently, Trump announced plans to suspend tariffs and import 300,000 metric tons of ground beef from countries such as Argentina and Brazil.
The meat would be sold at a discount for American consumers. While this was done to bring beef prices down for consumers, U.S. ranchers said it undercut their business. In response to the backlash, Trump issued a set of executive orders to see how to make it easier for ranchers to process and sell their own meat directly to consumers, as well as changes to labeling and mapping more than two million additional acres of grazing land to be managed by the Department of the Interior.
In their statement, the three cattle organizations called the disruptions caused by ICE operations come at a time of “enhanced focus and pressure” on the cattle and beef supply chain.
“They are a costly and unnecessary impact to cattle producers already suffering from unwelcome political interference to both the markets as well as the physical supply chain,” they said in the statement. “Frustratingly, the harm these actions cause to cattle producers last for days and weeks after such operations conclude.”
The three associations said they respect the responsibility federal agencies have to “enforce the law.” However, the groups said rural businesses depend on a stable workforce. They added the sudden workforce disruptions can create immediate animal-welfare, operational and economic consequences that go beyond a single business.
“We urge federal officials to conduct enforcement actions in a lawful, orderly, and transparent manner; respect due process; and communicate clearly with affected employers and communities,” the organizations said in their statement.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment from The Tribune as of publication.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.