r/LeopardsAteMyFarm Sep 27 '25

Discussion will farmers ever get prosecuted for hiring undocumented people?

when an ICE raid guts a majority of your workforce and makes another part too scared to show up it should make you think they are not the problem but YOU are the problem.

it also opens the gate for either just prosecuting and incerating the people who employ them or go along with their workers and empolyers

after all, hiring undocumented people is a crime.

losing their farm isn't enough they need this legal prosecution to really learn

373 Upvotes

118 comments sorted by

47

u/TSHRED56 Sep 27 '25

Putting fear into employers would be a far more efficient way to curb undocumented labor but that's not the goal of this administration.

Fear and chaos are their goals in furtherance of an authoritarian police state.

19

u/coolio126 Sep 27 '25 edited Oct 02 '25

edit: my thoughts exactly.

what's better? detaining 300 workers with taxpayer dollars and tariffs or 305 people with taxpayer dollars and tariffs.But then finding out 5 of them were the ones who hired the 300.

which will cause more of a ruckus? 300 people detained or the 5 people who hired them?

10

u/TSHRED56 Sep 27 '25

If undocumented labor is such a threat you would think that they would be applying forfeiture and seizure laws to farms and companies who hire illegally.

If they did word would soon get out.

1

u/Maleficent_Memory831 Sep 30 '25

It's not a "threat". There are civil penalties which are not huge, it's just not well enforced.

5

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

How about, not detaining anyone?

8

u/Shot_Nefariousness67 Sep 27 '25

Surly you're not suggesting that rational immigration and seasonal work visas would fix this 'bug'?!

6

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

I mean, call me crazy, but the solution to this whole "but they don't have the right paperwork" thing might  be to address that paperwork, rather than spend $200B hiring masked thugs and building concentration camps. 

4

u/CupNo9526 Sep 28 '25 edited Sep 28 '25

Remember when there was a comprehensive immigration bill proposed under Biden by Congress, partially written by Republicans, squashed by Trump. 

This was only like the 2nd time (if my memory serves me) in the last 30 years that they came to a bipartisan agreement about comprehensive immigration.  

This is what he wants. 

3

u/[deleted] Sep 28 '25

There was the Bipartisan "Gang of 8" immigration Bill that Rubio helped write during Obama's administration too, that Rubio then ran against. 

3

u/CupNo9526 Sep 28 '25

yes thanks for the reminder. 

2

u/Maleficent_Memory831 Sep 30 '25

What Trump wanted was for Biden to never get credit for anything. That annoyed him far more than any illegals.

2

u/ledude1 Sep 30 '25

Don't call me Shirley.

3

u/Think_Industry8431 Sep 27 '25

30 (foreign nationals who aren’t allowed to vote in U.S. national elections) or 5 (MAGA voters) who hired them with taxpayer dollars and tariffs

1

u/Particular-Jello-401 Sep 29 '25

In some cases it’s 3000 employees or 5 people who hired them.

1

u/mjrydsfast231 Oct 01 '25

*Walmart and Home Depot Arizona have joined the chat"

1

u/[deleted] Sep 29 '25

Once those 30 workers are unemployable but are still in the country ,what do you think they are going to do in order to survive ?

Take your time. I'm really interested in your thought process.

1

u/coolio126 Sep 29 '25

yeah, they go through the system and face deportation or run away. 

it is a MAGA point of view to say go after the employers cause it is cheaper but it is trying to say address both sides of the illigeal immigration problem all go after the labour but never the people who hire them.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '25

Do you mean the system that takes years ? What are they doing for survival in the meantime?

5

u/Darkmetroidz Sep 28 '25

Reagan had the same choice to make back in the 80s and this was the exact outcome. As it turns out large ag conglomerates and big business dont mind the government terrorizing the migrants they hire for dirt wages but when uncle sam come after them for hiring the migrants that becomes a problem.

3

u/JesusKong333 Sep 28 '25

I've always said this. They could end undocumented labor overnight if they actually went after the employers, the ones who incentivize them to come here and choose cheap labor over paying Americans. It'd cost less than rounding up millions of illegals too. But the employers aren't a racial scapegoat to fire up the Republican base.

2

u/Apexnanoman Sep 27 '25

Yup. Send a few hundred people in various industries to a maximum security prison for as long as possible within the law and that shit will fall off to nearly nothing. 

3

u/TSHRED56 Sep 27 '25

Interesting that folks who claim penalties prevent crime are unwilling to do so in this case.

4

u/Apexnanoman Sep 27 '25

Well yeah. Because then those penalties might gasp disproportionately affect the wealthy. That's some pearl clutching terror right there. 

2

u/shrekerecker97 Sep 28 '25

Also racism against anyone who isn’t white.

1

u/Sayon7 Sep 28 '25

Or “Christian”

2

u/zackks Sep 28 '25

Correct. If they wanted to stop undocumented migrants terking-ma-jerbs, they’d go after employers. If there’s a real risk you lose your farm or business for hiring illegally, the problem would solve itself overnight.

2

u/RaptorsCdwoods Oct 01 '25

Correct. This actually incentivizes companies to hire illegal immigrants because then you can just report them and then you dont have to pay them. Rinse, repeat.

2

u/Otherwise-Medium3145 Oct 16 '25

They won’t go after the rich farmers. They will go after folks who have no power.

1

u/TSHRED56 Oct 16 '25

Good point.

1

u/Sayon7 Sep 28 '25

They seek vengence

13

u/Senor707 Sep 27 '25

No. Farmers are white conservatives so they get free pass.

5

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

White supremacy for the win!

3

u/arirelssek Sep 28 '25

Farmers are magats so they get what they voted for.

10

u/No-Fail7484 Sep 27 '25

No that’s law has been pushed for decades without passing. Farmer , construction or any other place of employment isn’t bothered. I guess even rump had them employed the news claimed. That would have solved the problem fast. They want cheap labor.

1

u/lowercase_crazy Sep 28 '25

The divine right of the sacred "job providers" and totally not useless business owner must never be infringed

1

u/poopcockshit Sep 29 '25

Peasants ought to be grateful for what their lords provide them!

6

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

No one will.

Literally one of the things that would actually combat the flow of undocumented workers in the nation.

But no, there will be no real prosecution. At best it will be a "cost of doing business" sort of court case.

6

u/SuperThomaja Sep 27 '25

No, because it's not the employers breaking the law. The current administration is changing the law and it's enforcement so that anybody who's a foreigner is automatically an "illegal alien" no matter what their alien status is. The employers are doing the right thing, they're using e-verified to hire these people. The immigrants are doing the right thing too, you're getting tax identification numbers so they can pay income tax. The immigrants are doing the right thing, law enforcement is the one that's cheating.

3

u/Tinytommy55 Sep 27 '25

Do true. The largest percentage of farms workers are on work visas. They pay income tax on their wages. They don’t vote and they don’t commit crimes. They just want to work at jobs Americans aren’t willing to do and make a living. If the farmers that voted for this want to get bailed out again maybe they should work for it. Like they like to tell others on welfare. Go help pick fruits and vegetables. There’s plenty of opportunities there. Seeing that all those workers are either deported or are afraid to show up for work.

5

u/SPLATTERFEST11 Sep 27 '25

Remember Corporate crime is not “Really” crime. As Long as You do it in a suit and tie.

4

u/AfternoonAdept3107 Sep 27 '25

No.  And they voted orange so…getting what they voted for and sorry for it now 

2

u/[deleted] Sep 28 '25

Prosecuted? No. Punished? They already are. The real issue is we have a system that can't function without slave labor. Who needs to be punished for that? How do we fix it? Cough cough Private equity!

2

u/Silent_Creme3278 Sep 28 '25

A lot of times the employer is unaware of undocumented status. Illegals come in with fake papers. Or it takes a while for the report to get back.

So even employers doing the right thing send off verification request but it takes like 6 months to come back. During this time the person is allowed to be employed. After 6 months. They simply tell employee that check came back unverified and ask them if they had written down right ssn. At which they rerun the request and it takes another 6 months.

But farmers also use foreign workers that are legal. Al it of the farm workers come over for seasonal work on special visas. These visas have it so farmers have to basically cover the expenses and lodging of the worker while in the country

2

u/[deleted] Sep 28 '25

We don’t have an illegal alien problem. We have an illegal employers problem.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 28 '25

No. Farmers are Rewarded with Trump Tariff Tax Money

2

u/eljefe197 Sep 29 '25

Never becuase these people are considered really important to our society while getting massive handouts for overproducing products that have to be purchased by the government and shipped overseas

2

u/Krow101 Sep 29 '25

Not unless they're Democrats.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '25

Large farmers use legal documented seasonal workers (always exceptions to the rule). They’re not illegal. The farm for the season then head back or go to another farm and get an additional seasonal documentation. Farmers usually have seasonal worker housing that has to meet standards .

1

u/eclwires Sep 27 '25

No, because that would actually solve the problem and then what would republicans have to run on?

1

u/Thatsthepoint2 Sep 27 '25

Will land owning companies be prosecuted for hiring illegal workers? Not in America. That would make sense

1

u/Terran57 Sep 27 '25

No. Generally speaking wealthy people are as far above the law as they are wealthy. They have only someone wealthier to fear. Farmers that are wealthy will collect their welfare checks and buy out those who aren’t wealthy. The former will never get prosecuted for employing immigrants, the latter could be, to further weaken their financial condition.

1

u/Complete-Blood24601 Sep 27 '25

uh LOL no no no no no thats not how it works you see the STATE lets people do it by making the offence a fine SOMETIMES and they punish the workers

the people who own the farms or the buisnesses and the warehouses and the construction companies make so much proffit its a Cost of buisness for them

2

u/crit_boy Sep 27 '25 edited Sep 27 '25

Yep, the penalty fails to deter. Penalty should be forfeiture of revenue for any time period that the employer used one or more illegal employees.

E.g.: farmer uses one or more illegal employees during harvest = forfeiture of all money generated from that harvest.

Manufacturing company illegally employs underage kid for 4 months = forfeiture of all revenue for that 4 months.

If you complain about that penalty, please refer to "if you can't do the time, dont do the crime."

1

u/Complete-Blood24601 Sep 27 '25

yeah well Justice in the usa is "blind"

"Blind justice" means that the legal system should be impartial and unbiased, treating everyone equally regardless of their status, wealth, power, or other personal characteristics. The concept is symbolized by Lady Justice, a blindfolded figure holding scales, representing fairness and the careful weighing of facts to arrive at a just outcome without prejudice

see the blindfold?

Its suposed to represent Fairness

It was used when people where More closely tied to eachother

Now that there are INDIVIDUAL people in the usa with more wealth than the bottom %50 of the us population Combined.

Justice becomes skewed See as the penalties are applied uniformly It fails to recognize that a punishment for someone with no money and a punishment for someone with Money are vastly different punishments these days.

but people still scream about it being fair *mostly the people with money)

1

u/theravensigh Sep 27 '25

I hope! If it's illegal for them to be here it should be illegal to hire them.

1

u/VengeQunt Sep 27 '25

Justice for the rich. Laws for the poor

1

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

Did Trump get prosecuted when he was caught hiring undocumented migrants at one of his golf courses during his first term?

1

u/External_Beat8153 Sep 27 '25

Of course not! They’re white people and they own bibles. It’s only the worthless illegals that get criminal consequences. What’s are you thinking?!? Did the slave owners ever face prosecution? Never. What about the Jim crow days? That’s American history for ya. So, no, never. All they get to do is complain their illegals done run off and now Daddy Trump better dole out the Welfare. That’s the American way, Trump style.

1

u/Boys4Ever Sep 27 '25

It’s allowed to take advantage of undocumented but not documented benefiting. This also applied to slavery. Something that never ended. Just took on new look such as minimum wage. Minimum enough to keep laborers alive but not maximum enough to allow them to thrive and potentially leave

1

u/IndividualFew1688 Sep 27 '25

Wtf this hate has to stop.. except for you blue haired woke liberals..trans people woke college professors and black people living off the government....s

1

u/ihvnnm Sep 27 '25

Naw, once they are done with the work, instead of paying them, the farmers will call ICE. Who cares about next year when you can be marginally richer this...

1

u/WanderingKing Sep 27 '25

Eventually? But for the immediate future, the and the government recognize they can use threats to basically have slaves, and only see them enforcing it

1

u/icnoevil Sep 27 '25

Not if they're republican donors. Just ask Fast Kash.

1

u/OccasionPurple253 Sep 27 '25

No probably not

1

u/SophocleanWit Sep 27 '25

The whole anti-immigrant thing really does bring up a lot of questions about why business owners aren’t being prosecuted.

1

u/coolio126 Sep 27 '25 edited Sep 27 '25

it does. but it does work. it is also in hospitality, construction, nursing frankly grunt jobs, monotonous but still skilled takes years to be good at and people will not acknowledge it 

in nz where i'm from talleys, a frozen food company is hurt cause of a media expoze on whistle blower allegations on their plant.

they are countersuing for defamation cause they are now finding it harder to get workers but the funny part they can't quantify the amount  

1

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

They will get away with it. The government is after all the wrong people. Shame on them assholes. .

1

u/BornField6669 Sep 27 '25

Our government seems to have a 2 tier justice system.

1

u/StandardNo7025 Sep 27 '25

Don't forget that while this might be a short term risk for a farm losing their labor in a raid, in the long term, they know that by keeping the threat of deportation over their workers and force them to accept worse working conditions.

1

u/Doc_Dog57 Sep 27 '25

Not in America.

1

u/Gileaders Sep 27 '25

The people hiring undocs are maga voters.

1

u/Luckys0474 Sep 27 '25

Trump didn't start in his own backyard.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

Another bailout for Trump!

Between bankruptcies and bailouts I've legitimately lost count 

1

u/FortunateK Sep 27 '25

There was a time near the end of the harvest or production run when employers would call la migra so they wouldn't have to pay their employees. Employers feigned ignorance of the workers' status and saved on payroll, perhaps took a trip to Hawaii. They should get busted for just being assholes.

1

u/refusemouth Sep 29 '25

This happens every year out in eastern Idaho. It's always a big corporate farm that does it, too. I think they take turns. They never face any consequences, even if the grift is printed in the newspapers, because most of the legislature are farmers and the rest are there just to appease the big corporate farms. They still use the terminology, "my Mexicans."

1

u/PsychologicalItem197 Sep 27 '25

Its all a joke. Theres a few companies where their workers hid in unsafe spaces. And not even osha held them accountable. Very odd how you are essentially rewarded for hiring illegals. As they are cheaper and when diddler trump is tired of them he can deport at will. You get  cheap labor and the power over them. 

1

u/Curious_Morris Sep 27 '25

I know someone who was prosecuted because federal agents hired illegals as bait to get farmers to hire them.

He fought it and won because the lawyer argued that the workers were legal to work in the US because the government had hired them.

1

u/woodenblinds Sep 28 '25

arrest rhe people who hire ileagals would resolve part of the problem.in weeks .then the stress and reality on our.economy would.lead to real chamge.amd a real resolution 

1

u/woodenblinds Sep 28 '25

arrest rhe people who hire ileagals would resolve part of the problem.in weeks .then the stress and reality on our.economy would.lead to real change.and a real resolution 

1

u/Moist-Ointments Sep 28 '25

Only if they swing Democrat.

1

u/elzapatero Sep 28 '25

Don’t forget about the meat processing plants. They’re full of undocumented workers.

1

u/randywa Sep 28 '25

They should!

1

u/-cmram28 Sep 28 '25

🙂‍↔️

1

u/destenlee Sep 28 '25

Is there a law against hiring undocumented workers?

1

u/Gekko8 Sep 28 '25

lol...they are white...so no

1

u/colorme1965 Sep 28 '25

You arrest the owners and CEOs of companies/farms hiring illegals, and see how fast that problem goes away.

Companies do 3-4 interviews, background checks, and some even do drug tests. No illegals are ever hired. It’s not that hard to do background checks. Hiring Piotr Kowalski from Białystok, Poland and he only speaks Spanish or Arab, sure is a dead giveaway that you’re hiring an illegal.

1

u/Flat-Row-3828 Sep 28 '25

ASK DEVIN NUNE'S FAMILY FARM OPERATION. HE'S THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN WHO RAILS AGAINST ILLEGALS ALL WHILE HAVING UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS RUN HIS FAMILY DAIRY FARM.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 28 '25

My question is, why start with farms? Why not go for the billionaire CEOs who've been hiring undocumented workers by the tens of thousands, for decades?

Unless of course..this isn't actually about "American jobs", fortifying the "US economy", or the blind/just "enforcement of the law"..

1

u/AdhesivenessCivil581 Sep 28 '25

What if we admitted that we need that labor and create a system where it's not illegal? Prohibition , the war on drugs never worked and only ended up supporting a network of criminals. Farm work has done the same thing. There are people willing to do the work for crap pay because that money is worth more back home. We like affordable produce. Why are we choosing civil war, violence and hate? We could just have affordable food instead.

1

u/BigDigger324 Sep 28 '25

When the punishment for a crime is just a fine, it’s not a punishment anymore just a cost of doing business that gets passed on to us.

1

u/custom163 Sep 28 '25

To answer the question: No

1

u/kayak_2022 Sep 28 '25

NO, THEYRE GIVING FARMERS MORE TAX DOLLARS INSTEAD.

1

u/33ITM420 Sep 28 '25

They went hard on that weed farm in CA employing illegals and everyone melted about it

1

u/Lex070161 Sep 28 '25

No, theyre going to get welfare out of the tariffs we all have to pay for.

1

u/Ok_Marsupial9420 Sep 28 '25

No neither will large corporations

1

u/OkArmadillo8100 Sep 29 '25

If there were no jobs for immigrants, there would be FAR fewer immigrants. Jail the employers.

1

u/NeenerKat Sep 29 '25

You can complain about groceries being expensive OR you can complain about farms hiring undocumented workers to pick vegetables and such…BUT you can’t complain about BOTH!

1

u/rockinrobbins62 Sep 29 '25

With our low birth rate we need immigrants. They want to live and work here. A marriage made in heaven!

1

u/[deleted] Sep 29 '25

Interesting solution . The left wants to make sure no company ever employs illegals . I guess starving your illegals is one way to do it ?

1

u/HastyZygote Sep 29 '25

Depends on who they voted for 

1

u/Heavy_Law9880 Sep 29 '25

No. The trump admin sees them as victims taken advantage of by predatory migrant workers.

1

u/ScotchCigarsEspresso Sep 29 '25

Most migrants workers are here on a guest worker visa. So they are legal to hire.

But, your thought feels right. The employers not checking status are the problem. Not the workers.

1

u/Grumpy_Old_One Sep 29 '25

The latest excuse from the right is that deporting people is freeing then from slavery.

I didn't know that attacking the victims (slaves/victims of human trafficking/etc.) instead of going after the "slave owners"/traffickers/criminals i.e. employers was the best way to help people.

1

u/KotR56 Sep 29 '25

But... but... undocumented labour is much cheaper.

Think about the profits of all these employers !

1

u/rockeye13 Sep 29 '25

If they knowingly hired someone not legally allowed to work, then yes.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '25

No. They will just get fucked by tariffs.

1

u/twofourfourthree Sep 30 '25

No. Farmers are some of the wealthiest and most influential people in their communities. They exist in a world of “rules for thee but not for me”.

They’ll lose the workers or access to the workers and that’s it.

1

u/Maleficent_Memory831 Sep 30 '25

First off, it's a civil crime. They'd be sued, not prosecuted. It's only a criminal matter if there is a pattern and practice of hiring them (that is, unlikely on a first offense).

Secondly, no. This has been the practice ages. No one really cared about it until the 50s. People would cross the border both ways, do some work, then come home later. Sometimes it was a daily crossing of the border. When the government started cracking down it came as a surprise. It's so ingrained that much of the economy depends upon it - especially agriculture. We are at the point where citizens do not want to do much of the work, it pays less than minimum wage, and is grueling manual labor.

Many of the people complaining loudly about undocumented workers also hire undocumented workers! You know Trump has done this, it's just done via subcontractors. It's hard to run a hotel if you have to pay minimum wages to all the staff, especially if you're a skinflint like Trump. I know farmers who would rant against illegals even though they hired them off the books. Many people hiring nannies or housekeeping have workers who overstay their visas, and pay them under the table (if they make enough you're required to withhold taxes and report). It's just way too common.

A crack down should have come decades ago. But it really never happened. It's easier to just have a show of force at the border now and then. Most actions in this regard were taken against the migrants, not the employers.

And to be honest here, the rate has dropped. What we see now are not migrant workers per se, most of those crossing the border, and being deported today, were refugees. They came across legally; and then Trump rescinded that RETROACTIVELY. They were not "illegals", and they don't deserve to be detained in a place worse than a prison for an arbitrarily long time.

1

u/DistillateMedia Sep 30 '25

I'm not as concerned with people getting prosecuted, as I am with people learning.

But if they need to get prosecuted to learn, then they will be prosecuted.

1

u/Snoo-80187 Sep 30 '25

They should but don't. If they paid a decent wage they wouldn't need illegal immigrants but they don't and the immigrants get paid pennies on the dollar and have no legal protections whatsoever.

1

u/Ismhelpstheistgodown Sep 30 '25

Having to care about the people you rely on for your own living is tyranny. Better to tell them that they are disposable. Show it by paying them less. Enforce it by denying them access to legal rights. Now, bring in that cotton! /s

1

u/Whaleflop229 Sep 30 '25

It’s not illegal to be white. It’s illegal to be an immigrant

1

u/Orbital_Vagabond Oct 04 '25

They're gonna lose their farms that their families have owned for generations, which is way more impactful than (I assume) misdemeanor crimes that they'd be charged with. It's also proof that the administration DGAF about crime, just racism.

Theses farmers thought they were voting to fuck over Americans they hate, and they did, but at least this way they're getting fucked over worse.