The Official "Damned Trump" Thread: Phase II

[awty]

If only they'd thought before voting.

'The whole thing is screwed up': Farmers in deep-red Pennsylvania struggle to find workers

In Tioga County, where President Donald Trump won 75 percent of the vote in 2024, farmers are losing patience with the White House’s promise of a quick solution for farm workers. Their urgent need is highlighted by stories like those of a multigenerational dairy farm that sold off all its dairy cows because the owner could not find workers and another where a farmer’s job listings have received no responses.

Farmers in the rural region near the New York border say those stories are not unique.

“The whole thing is screwed up,” said John Painter, a three-time Trump voter who runs an organic dairy farm in Westfield. “We need people to do the jobs Americans are too spoiled to do.”

These are the voices Thompson and other farm-state lawmakers are hearing as they discuss potential solutions. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ assurances that American workers and machines can help close the gap ring hollow among farmers who have become reliant on migrant labor that is increasingly hard to find in the face of Trump’s immigration crackdown.

The U.S. agricultural workforce fell by 155,000 — about 7 percent — between March and July, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. That tracks with Pew Research Center data that shows total immigrant labor fell by 750,000 from January through July. The labor shortage piles onto an ongoing economic crisis for farmers exacerbated by dwindling export markets that could leave them with crop surpluses.

“People don’t understand that if we don’t get more labor, our cows don’t get milked and our crops don’t get picked,” said Tim Wood, a dairy farmer and a member of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau board of directors.

Farmers often turn to undocumented laborers because of the red tape and high costs associated with the H-2A program, which allows migrant workers to fill jobs in seasonal agricultural industries.

Charlie Porter, the head of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau’s Ag Labor and Safety Committee, said farmers across his state are anxious for a solution.

“It’s a shame you have hard-working people who need labor, and a group of people who are willing to work, and they have to look over their shoulder like they’re criminals,” Porter said. “They’re not.”

Painter voted for Trump three times, but he said he’s “very disappointed” in how the president has handled immigration policy this term.

“It’s not right, what they’re doing,” he said. “All of us, if we look back in history, including the president, we have somebody that came to this country for the American dream.”

Tim Wood, a Tioga dairy farmer who also voted for Trump, said he has been unable to find a consistent workforce for several years.

He was urged to reduce stress after being treated for a heart condition in late 2024 and provided a telling response when asked by a doctor about his “biggest stressor.”

“If I’m going to have workers tomorrow,” Wood answered.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/15...n-00560820

Buyer's remorse all around.  Should have read the fine print.