RYAN LUETKEMEYER
and MEGHAN O’BRIEN
News21
SHOSHONE, Idaho — Just east of town, a road cuts through sagebrush and fields of cows toward Donley Farms, where Darren Taber manages the multigenerational operation. The Sawtooth Mountains rise in the distance, marking the northern edge of the Snake River Plain — the backdrop for Taber’s work.
Darren Taber, owner and manager of Donley Farms, looks out at some of his farm’s dairy cows on June 24, 2025, in Shoshone, Idaho. Requiring year-round work, Idaho’s dairy industry doesn’t have access to a visa program.
Ryan Luetkemeyer, News21
As the Magic Valley wakes up, the 900-cow dairy is already in motion. Taber has owned Donley Farms for more than 25 years. These days, he focuses on crop and management decisions — planning pesticide spray schedules, overseeing planting and training the next generation of family farmers.
It’s demanding, unpredictable work – but for Taber, the farm is also home.
“It’s the best place in the world to raise a family,” he said. “It’s a lot of late nights. There’s a lot of times that I’m (working) 24-hour days. … If a milker doesn’t show up, guess what? You gotta go milk.”
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Taber manages the operation with his son. But more and more, he has been pulled away from this work and into policy, traveling to Washington, D.C., to advocate for immigration reform that has been stalled for years.
“I have been there for the Goodlatte bill. I have been there for the Lofgren and Newhouse bill. I have been there for Sen. Crapo’s bill,” Taber said, ticking off more than six years’ worth of legislation intended to address immigration reform for agricultural employers and workers.
“What I cannot stand is the fact that Congress cannot get anything across the finish line,” he said. “Maybe we can’t solve it all in one big, beautiful bill. Who knows? Maybe we can.”
A worker cleans the dairy parlor before cows come in to be milked at Donley Farms on June 24 in Shoshone, Idaho. Without a consistent workforce to oversee milking operations, farmers say cows, and the entire operation, will suffer.
Ryan Luetkemeyer, News21
The Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration has left farmers worried about their livelihoods and workers frightened for their lives. It’s also renewed bipartisan calls to implement reforms for the people who help feed America.
“Yeah, get the criminals out,” Taber said. “But your farmworkers are not your criminals.”
President Donald Trump has indicated he might be amenable to a solution.
In June — after reports of raids at a New Mexico dairy, at a Nebraska meat production plant and in the fields of California — Trump took to social media and promised that “changes are coming” for “our great farmers” who are losing “very good, long time workers.”
The administration then ordered a pause on workplace raids in agriculture and hospitality, but reversed course days later.
Trump then said in a July 3 speech that he was working to help farmers who depend on migrant labor – indicating his administration was making progress on legislation to address the issue.
“We have a country to run,” he said, “and we wanna have them come in and we wanna have them help our farmers.”
Trump and other leaders have discussed a work program that would ensure farmers have the labor they need but would not provide amnesty for farmworkers who lack legal status.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has said the goal is a 100% American workforce and that reforms could include a shift toward automation or looking to the 34 million “able-bodied adults on Medicaid” as a way to fill labor needs, adding that deportations must be carried out strategically “so as not to compromise our food supply.”
Most farmworkers earn less than $40,000 annually. Nearly 70% of people working in agriculture were not born in the United States, according to federal data, and about 42% of that workforce lacks legal status.
Yet protections for workers without legal status are limited.
“During the pandemic, it was actually the first Trump administration that designated farmworkers essential,” said Antonio De Loera-Brust, a spokesman for United Farm Workers. “Five years later, these same workers who we said were essential are now being treated as disposable.”
The H-2A visa is a temporary permit that allows farmers to hire foreign farmworkers if there aren’t enough domestic workers to fill labor needs — a growing reality for employers.
“We have not deferred to migrant labor or H-2A programs because we’re trying to save money,” said Andrew Mickelsen, partner of a large potato farm in Idaho Falls. “We’re doing it because that void is not filling up.”
In 2014, the U.S. issued around 90,000 H-2A visas. Last year, that number rose to 315,000.
Yet industries that require year-round labor, such as Idaho dairy, cannot legally hire workers using the temporary visa.
Since 2019, some members of Congress have been attempting to address these issues through legislation that would provide temporary legal status to agricultural workers.
The latest version of the bill, introduced in May, would allow a qualified individual with extended employment in farmwork to become a “certified agricultural worker” on the condition of continued employment.
Andrew Mickelsen, a partner in Mickelsen Farms, walks through one of the farm’s many potato warehouses on June 24 in Roberts, Idaho. Mickelsen says the farm couldn’t complete harvest without H-2A immigrant workers.
Ryan Luetkemeyer, News21
The bill would also provide at least 20,000 H-2A visas each year for the next decade for farmers with year-round labor needs. Half of those visas would be reserved for the dairy industry.
Similar legislation has twice passed the House with bipartisan support but then died in the Senate, noted Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat who is co-sponsoring the bill.
“We are reaching out to our Senate friends on a bipartisan basis to encourage them to move this bill forward,” Lofgren told News21.
News21 also contacted Republican Reps. Mike Simpson of Idaho, David Valadao of California and Dan Newhouse of Washington – all co-sponsors of the current bill. None responded to requests for comment.
Zach Rutledge, an agricultural economics expert at Michigan State University, said the bill’s pathway to legal status may be what’s holding it back.
“It’s hard to get bipartisan support when you’re talking about legalizing hundreds of thousands of unauthorized workers – especially in our current political climate,” Rutledge said.
Rick Naerebout, CEO of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, stands on the balcony of his office overlooking the Snake River Canyon on June 22 in Twin Falls, Idaho. Naerebout has advocated for immigration reform for two decades to no avail.
Ryan Luetkemeyer, News21
Other bills look to expand H-2A flexibility, create a temporary status for those who’ve been in the U.S. for years, and implement E-Verify nationwide, but labor advocates say reforms must also guarantee higher wages, better working conditions and union rights.
Given that immigrants play an important role across many sectors of the country’s economy, tension between business interests and those who support mass deportations is growing.
“We understand the need for enforcement,” said Rick Naerebout, CEO of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association. “But we also have to have a conversation around immigration reform so that we don’t damage our economy.”
In Idaho, enforcement tensions rise
Stephanie Mickelsen was at her home in Idaho Falls when her sons started calling and texting. Immigration agents had arrived at one of her farms.
Stephanie Mickelsen, CFO of Mickelsen Farms and owner of Rigby Produce, stands in one of her potato processing plants on June 24 in Rigby, Idaho. Mickelsen says legal immigration pathways need to exist for farms and processing facilities to be able to have enough workers.
Ryan Luetkemeyer, News21
It was Jan. 24, three days after Ryan Spoon, vice chair of the Ada County Republican Committee, accused Mickelsen on social media of hiring illegal workers and said he had contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Her operation, Mickelsen Farms, is one of the largest potato producers in the region.
Agents detained one immigrant employee that day, but Mickelsen, a sixth-generation farmer and Republican state representative, said the incident served as a warning for anyone speaking out against immigration enforcement.
“I became more fearful of actually standing up and just trying to have honest, earnest debate,” she said.
Last year, as the Idaho House considered legislation to allow local law enforcement to arrest immigrants in the state without authorization, Mickelsen noted that businesses all across Idaho likely employ such immigrants.
“If you guys think that you haven’t been touched by an illegal immigrant’s hands in some way, through either your traveling or your food, you’re kidding yourselves,” she said during floor debate. “We have people here that provide great value to our communities and to our society.”
Agriculture is the backbone of Idaho’s economy, contributing some $37 billion in sales in 2022, according to a University of Idaho report – mainly from farms spread out across the 400-milelong Snake River Plain in the southern part of the state.
Potatoes are monitored by workers before continuing down the production line at Rigby Produce on June 24 in Rigby, Idaho. Owner Stephanie Mickelsen says legal immigration pathways need to exist for farms and processing facilities to be able to have enough workers.
Ryan Luetkemeyer, News21
Warm days, cool nights and abundant sunshine create ideal growing conditions for a wide range of crops, especially potatoes, of which Idaho leads the nation in production.
From the Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot to a potato-shaped mascot named Spuddy Buddy and even holding a potato drop on New Year’s Eve, Idaho has fully leaned into its spud reputation.
While potatoes remain the icon, the dairy industry has quietly overtaken crops as the top agricultural sector by revenue, generating just under $11 billion in annual sales from over 300 dairy farms and around 700,000 cows, according to the Idaho Dairymen’s Association.
Today, Idaho ranks fourth in the nation for milk production, with dairy farms heavily concentrated in the Magic Valley – home to Taber’s farm. The industry has become a cultural staple in its own right, one that’s celebrated each summer at Dairy Days.
Idaho’s dairy industry relies on a labor force that comes primarily from Mexico, said Rick Naerebout, CEO of the dairymen’s association.
“When you (have) a workforce that’s 90% foreign born, and you don’t have access to a visa program, you can guess how dependent we are on an unauthorized workforce,” he said.
From both his office in Twin Falls and the halls of Congress, Naerebout has worked for decades with other dairy leaders in support of immigration reform. The goal is twofold: to secure legal status for existing workers, and to gain access to the H-2A visa program to meet labor demands.
After 20 years, Naerebout said, the needle has barely moved. If the issue isn’t addressed, he added, the ripple effect will be felt across the supply chain, increasing the price of dairy products.
“We can’t feed ourselves as a country if we don’t find a solution to this problem,” Naerebout said. “For our dairy producers … their business livelihood depends on it.”
The absence of immigration reform and a declining domestic workforce have contributed to a labor shortage across Idaho agriculture, according to Naerebout.
“There’s not an interest, and when there is an interest, there’s not the grit to stay in the job and actually see it through,” he said.
Naerebout pointed to data shared with him by an H-2A contractor. Last season, the contractor advertised for 6,000 positions. Just 35 domestic applications were submitted. Of the 35, 12 people were willing to be interviewed. Two were eventually hired, but neither made it to harvest.
Mickelsen Farms needs around 125 temporary workers to harvest several thousand acres, but it typically receives just one or two domestic applications. Andrew Mickelsen, who runs the operation alongside his mother and other relatives, said the company used to get by without using H-2A workers. Now they’re reliant on them.
“If we did not have the H-2A program, there would be no way for us to get our harvest done,” he said.
Water sprays from a farm’s center pivot irrigation system on June 23 in Roberts, Idaho. Idaho’s potato industry relies on an influx of H-2A workers every harvest.
Ryan Luetkemeyer, News21
Mickelsen Farms insists it does what is required of any employer across the country when hiring workers: Collect I-9 and W-4 forms, and trust that workers’ documents are valid.
Recently, the Mickelsens have become even more vigilant in the hiring process, but they said there’s a line farmers can’t cross.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, an employer cannot reject valid documents, request additional ones or treat someone differently based on perceived immigration status or national origin. Doing so can open the employer up to legal penalties under federal law.
Stephanie Mickelsen said there’s a growing expectation that employers police workers’ legal status. She and other farmers disagree.
“You’re making bad guys out of employers who have followed the law,” she said. “Don’t make us your enforcer. Do your job.”
Aside from that January morning at Mickelsen Farms, there have been few reports of immigration raids in the state, but Mickelsen believes enforcement actions are happening quietly. According to a New York Times analysis, ICE arrests in Idaho are up a whopping 924% from last year — the highest percentage change in the nation.
“I think that there are raids going on; I think that everybody is trying to keep it really, really quiet,” she said. “I know people that are being served with I-9 audit requests. … I know that they’ve picked up people and removed people right and left, up and down this valley.
“But nobody’s talking about it,” she said, “because they’re all afraid.”
In California, farmworkers continue to toil
As the sun rises over the golden hills of California’s Salinas Valley, the region’s 25,000 farmworkers are already hunched at the waist, planting and harvesting America’s produce.
A farmworker stretches a rubber band around cauliflower leaves to prepare the plant for harvest on June 14 in San Benito County, Calif. The Golden State produces more than a third of the nation’s vegetables, but farmers are worried about the impact of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.
Meghan O’Brien, News21
At one operation off a two-lane road dotted with farm stands, a worker gathers cauliflower, a pouch of rubber bands hooked to his belt. Bands snake up his arm, and when he reaches into the pouch to resupply his stack, some scatter on the soil beneath his feet.
Most of his fellow farmworkers have their faces covered with wide-brimmed hats or bandannas to protect their skin from the sun. Within the first three hours of their shift, the temperature will climb by nearly 30 degrees.
The worker, S.H., emigrated from Hidalgo, Mexico, about 15 years ago. He requested anonymity because he, like most of his co-workers, is in the U.S. without legal status, and the fear looms that ICE officers could appear at any time.
“You don’t feel safe anywhere,” he said. “In the morning, you wake up and pray to God and say, ‘Let’s put ourselves in God’s hands, because he is the only one who decides.’”
S.H. is one of about 10 employees at an organic operation nestled in the fertile soil of San Benito County, a part of the “Salad Bowl of the World.”
California’s $58 billion agriculture industry supplies over a third of the nation’s vegetables and the majority of America’s fruits and nuts.
The state has the largest number of immigrants lacking legal status in the U.S., according to the Pew Research Center, and is home to about half of the unauthorized agricultural worker population, statistics show.
It is also a key target for carrying out Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
Since January, agents have raided farms in Santa Maria, Oxnard and Bakersfield, according to media outlets. ICE reports over 600 arrests in the state, though a New York Times analysis puts that number at about 5,800.
In early June, Trump deployed several thousand troops to Los Angeles to counter anti-ICE protests. And in early July, a farmworker died from injuries sustained fleeing agents who raided two cannabis farms in Carpinteria and Camarillo. About 360 other workers were arrested.
Sergio Munguia, an H-2A visa holder, carries boxes to package strawberries at an organic farm on June 16 in Royal Oaks, Calif. The berries he picks contribute to the state’s $3 billion strawberry industry.
Meghan O’Brien, News21
Tom Homan, who serves as Trump’s “border czar,” has set daily arrest goals in the thousands. Farmers, workers and advocates worry that could cripple the state’s labor force.
“If you’re arresting a farmworker at a gas station or at a church or dropping your kid off at school, that’s still a farmworker who’s being picked up,” said De Loera-Brust, the United Farm Workers spokesman. “That’s still a farmworker who’s not going to be able to go to work the next day.”
Javier Zamora is a midsize organic farmer in the Salinas Valley who immigrated to the U.S. more than four decades ago. He grows blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes and other produce on about 100 acres of land.
Zamora wonders why the Trump administration would want to deport the people who help stock grocery shelves.
“America would not be as great as it is now if all my workforce were taken away,” he said.
Lawmakers, he said, “need to wake up and they need to do something. And it needs to be done quickly – before it’s too late.”
Javier Zamora, owner of JSM Organics, surveys the strawberries growing on his 100-acre farm on June 16 in Royal Oaks, Calif. Zamora wonders why the Trump administration would want to deport the people who help stock grocery shelves.
Meghan O’Brien, News21
M.M., her shirt damp with sweat and dew from an early morning of harvesting cauliflower at another farm, works without legal permission so she can support her daughter and son.
She’s been in the U.S. for 15 years. But now, she worries when she sends her children off to school that it will be the last time she sees them. They’re getting therapy to cope with the fear that their mother may not come home.
“We don’t know when they could detain us,” M.M. said. “Or they could come right here to work.”
A worker at JSM Organics loads strawberries onto a refrigerated truck on June 16 in Royal Oaks, Calif.
Meghan O’Brien, News21
Nearly every day, she hears about ICE’s presence near her home or the farm where she’s employed. She said she leaves the house only to go to work but knows other migrants have stopped working altogether.
“In the fields, they are running out of people,” she said. “There is a lot of fruit that is rotting.”
Each morning, she’s up before dawn, preparing for another eight-hour day dedicated to weeding, planting and harvesting.
“I’m still afraid due to the uncertainty of being deported,” she said. “But, oh well. We have to keep working and move forward.”
Farmworkers place stakes between rows of tomato plants on June 14 in San Benito County, Calif. The Golden State produces more than three-quarters of the nation’s fruits and nuts.
Meghan O’Brien, News21
News21 reporter Carlos Rene Castro contributed to this story. This report is part of “Upheaval Across America,” an examination of immigration enforcement under the second Trump administration produced by Carnegie-Knight News21. For more stories, visit https://upheaval.news21.com/.
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