Impact of immigration policy
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Possible impacts to meat producers. From a trade magazine for the beef industry.
Economic Impact of Mass Deportations Weighs Heavy on the Livestock Industry
With the Trump administration moving forward on its promise of mass deportations, the livestock and agriculture industries are concerned about the disruption and financial impact the loss of workers would put on producers and consumers.
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As President Trump’s mass deportation of unauthorized immigrants is ramping up, a question many have is: How will this impact American farms? And that is also a question that farmers are asking.
At the American Farm Bureau Federation convention in San Antonio this weekend, Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall summed up the mood regarding mass deportations and agriculture labor.
“Everyone’s nervous,” Duvall told TPR. “I think what makes us most nervous is we don’t know what steps the full deportation plan has in it.”
Zippy Duvall?
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Maybe shoulda thought of that…
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The Trump administration aggressively publicized the arrests of more than 8,000 immigrants by federal agents since Inauguration Day, with the promise that those detained would be part of a historic mass deportation. But NBC News has learned that some have already been released back into the United States on a monitoring program, according to five sources familiar with the operations.
Since he took office, President Donald Trump and his allies have promoted immigration operations in cities like Chicago and New York, where agents across federal agencies were called in to increase the number of arrests.
But arresting more people inside the United States on allegations of immigration violations means they need to be held somewhere. And significant space constraints in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities — and federal court orders forbidding indefinite detention — have forced the agency to release some of those arrested in the roundups rather than hold them until deportation.
ICE posts arrest figures daily on X, but it does not disclose how many of those arrested are released, remain in detention or have been deported.
In a statement to NBC News, an ICE spokesperson acknowledged federal court cases limit ICE from detaining people indefinitely if their countries refuse to take them back, which can lead ICE to release them.
“The agency’s federal law enforcement officers do everything they can to keep our communities safe,” the spokesperson said. “In some cases, ICE is required to release certain arrested aliens from custody.”
Those released are being kept on a monitoring program known as Alternatives to Detention, the five sources familiar with the releases said, which has for more than a decade been used to keep track of where migrants are as they make their way through the immigration system. ICE can track them by ankle monitors or wrist bands or through telephonic check-ins.
As he did in his first administration, Trump vowed when he took office last month to end so-called catch-and-release policies under which migrants apprehended at the southern border are released back into the United States while their immigration cases are pending.
Trump’s ban on “catch and release” appears to be in effect at the southern border, where few migrants are being processed for asylum claims. But because ICE is funded for only 41,500 beds nationwide, it is still releasing some migrants who were detained in the interior of the country.
Fox News reported in December that the incoming Trump administration was aware of the capacity issues in ICE detention and was considering expanding the ankle monitor program.
ICE policy prioritizes immigrants deemed to be public safety threats for detention and allows officers to use their discretion when they decide to release migrants who do not have serious criminal convictions. There are no indications that the Trump administration has released anyone convicted of a serious crime.
When they decide who should be detained, ICE officers also consider whether immigrants come from countries that refuse to take them back. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans living in the United States, for example, could not be deported and were considered for release if they were not deemed threats to public safety.
On Saturday, Trump announced that Venezuela had agreed to take back its nationals who had emigrated to the United States.
Other detainees may be released for medical reasons or if they are the only caretakers of children, three sources familiar with the decisions said.
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El Salvador has offered to take in criminals deported from the US, including those with US citizenship, and house them in its mega-jail.
The deal was announced after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele during his visit to the central American nation.
Bukele - whose iron-fist approach to gangs has won him plaudits from voters but been heavily criticised by human rights groups - said he had offered the US "the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system".
Rubio said the US was "profoundly grateful" to Bukele, adding that "no country's ever made an offer of friendship such as this".
Rubio told reporters: "He has offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals in custody in our country, including those with US citizenship and legal residency."
Referring to two of the region's most notorious transnational crime gangs, Rubio added that El Salvador would also take in deported migrants and "criminals from any nationality, be the MS-13 or Tren de Aragua".
Bukele later confirmed the offer on X, specifying that "we are willing to take in only convicted criminals (including convicted US citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for a fee".
He added that "the fee would be relatively low for the US but significant for us, making our entire prison sustainable".
When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
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Add this.
"the fee would be relatively low for the US but significant for us, making our entire prison sustainable".
And this (from a separate NPR article):
Human rights activists have warned that El Salvador lacks a consistent policy for the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees and that such an agreement might not be limited to violent criminals.
What could possibly go wrong?
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Running into a few problems with immigration roundups...asking for a bit more money...
President Trump's vow to deport "millions and millions" of unauthorized immigrants is meeting harsh reality — already stretching the limits of the government's resources, less than four weeks into the new administration.
Why it matters: A lack of funds, detention space, officers and infrastructure to handle arrested immigrants is frustrating many involved in the effort — and made goals such as 1 million deportations this year seem unrealistic.
Zoom in: That urgency led the White House to ask Congress for an immediate infusion of $175 billion to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acquire more detention space, boost staff and address other needs.
"At the end of the day, we've gotta just spend money," Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said in a brief interview at the White House. "Unfortunately the American taxpayers are going to have to pay the bill on this."
https://www.axios.com/2025/02/13/trump-immigration-deportation-obstacles
Same taxpayers who will understand the near term effects of tariffs?
Suuuure....
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Zoom in: That urgency led the White House to ask Congress for an immediate infusion of $175 billion to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acquire more detention space, boost staff and address other needs.
$175 Billion.
Seems like a lot.
