Biting the Hands That Feed Us: Immigration Policy, Enforcement, and the Structural Vulnerability of Agricultural Labor

Authors

Claire Kelly

Abstract

The United States agricultural sector heavily relies on migrant labor, with undocumented workers composing a substantial share of the workforce. As the Trump Administration initiates its mass deportation policy, this article examines the far-reaching economic and legal consequences that such actions would impose on American agriculture. Mass deportation not only threatens to destabilize food production and inflate food prices, but it also exposes the longstanding legal neglect of farmworkers, whose labor protections remain fragile or non-existent under current U.S. law. This article analyzes the exploitation of agricultural workers embedded in the United States’ history, critiques the inadequacies of current programs such as the H-2A visa, and identifies urgent reforms needed to protect both farmers and farm laborers. By situating mass deportation policies within the broader failure to secure agricultural labor rights, this article argues that stabilizing the sector requires not only immigration reform but also a restructuring of labor protections and federal agricultural support systems.

First Page

218

Recommended Citation

Claire Kelly, Biting the Hands That Feed Us: Immigration Policy, Enforcement, and the Structural Vulnerability of Agricultural Labor, 9 Bus. Entrepreneurship & Tax L. Rev. 218 (2025).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/betr/vol9/iss2/9