Across America, fruits and vegetables are beginning to rot in the fields. This isn’t a natural disaster; it’s a man-made one. The skilled and essential farm workers who sustain our nation are being hunted, detained, and deported in a campaign of calculated cruelty.
This crisis is the result of a broken and dishonest immigration policy. We have seen images of workers fleeing through the fields where they labor, and we have heard reports of the inhumane conditions in which they are detained. Many of these individuals have no criminal record. Some have followed every rule, appearing for court dates only to be met with betrayal. Some are even U.S. citizens. This system is not just failing; it is actively punishing those who try to work within it.
This is a stark reversal of our own history. Presidents like Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush recognized the necessity and humanity of granting amnesty and a pathway to citizenship. Today, however, we are guided by a different philosophy: one where cruelty is the point. This isn’t just about immigration; it’s about an ideology of fear — fear of a changing America, fear of Black and Brown communities, and fear of losing a majority status. It is an ideology that seeks to erase people, whether from the fields, from the census, or from the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship.
When we see pictures of this wasted harvest, we must remember who is paying the highest price. The food on our tables exists because of a workforce that we have chosen to demonize. It is time to reject this harvest of cruelty and demand a system that honors our food, our economy, and the human dignity of the people who feed us.
Peggy Van Sickle
Brighton
