A conservative Republican farmer from Idaho is making an unlikely appeal to President Donald Trump: “Do the right thing.” His call comes as his family farm struggles to survive amid labor shortages he blames on Trump-era immigration policies.
ABC News reported Wednesday that Shay Myers, general manager of Owyhee Produce, a third-generation farm in Parma, Idaho, is speaking out against the aggressive deportation tactics that have intensified under the Trump administration.
He says those policies are threatening the very foundation of the country’s food supply.
"My reality is, I love these people. I love the culture, and I love the effort that they make. And ethically, to continue to not fix this problem is absolutely completely wrong," Myers told the outlet.
"We as Americans try to do the right thing," Myers said. "Let's do the right thing."
Owyhee Produce is among many U.S. farms facing a crisis-level worker shortage, a problem Myers says is not about politics but survival.
With about 300 workers needed during harvest season — many of them on temporary H-2A agricultural visas — his farm is now scrambling to find enough help.
Of those workers, 90 percent are typically from Mexico and other countries.
"We would love to hire people from here. The reality is that we can't find the numbers of people here," Myers told ABC News.
"We're in a rural area, number one. Number two: This is hard work. It is difficult work, and there are lots of people that are not willing to do it." But even those who come to the U.S. legally are increasingly hesitant.
Mauricio Sol, a seasonal worker from Mexico, said fear is spreading among visa holders despite their legal status.
"We all come on the H-2A visa program, so we come all here legally by the season, just for the season, and then we go back to Mexico," Sol explained in his comments to the outlet.
"We usually get a lot of applications. We're not getting that many now because people are afraid of that, even when they are legally here, they're getting arrested for no reason," Myers said.
The report noted that the Labor Department recently issued a warning that aligns with Myers’ concerns, pointing to a potential food crisis caused by the disruption of the agricultural labor force.
A report submitted earlier this month warned that “the near total cessation of the inflow of illegal aliens combined with the lack of an available legal workforce, results in significant disruptions to production costs and [threatens] the stability of domestic food production and prices for U.S consumers."
Experts are sounding the alarm, too. James O’Neill, director of Legislative Affairs for the American Business Immigration Coalition, says the nation’s food economy is hanging in the balance. "It's absolutely impacting the labor force," O’Neill told ABC.
"Nationwide, the USDA's ag labor survey suggests that somewhere between 50 and 60 percent of our farm labor workforce is undocumented immigrants," O'Neill said.
"And if that's the case, if we were to deport them all overnight, then that's 60 percent of the workforce, meaning that's 60 percent of the supply that's not being met without a shift in demand," he added. "And I think anyone that understands economics knows that means higher prices for them at the grocery store."
Despite being a self-described conservative and Trump supporter, Myers said the situation on the ground forced him to speak out — especially because his political affiliation might help bridge the partisan divide on immigration.
"I have a voice, I have reach. I have people that will listen," he said.
“And because I am a conservative and a Republican, people assume that I would have a different perspective here, and this is my reality," Myers added.