Sen. Thom Tillis made a stop at Rocky Creek Dairy farm Monday morning to address concerns about a primary source of labor in the agriculture industry -- immigrants.
Tillis, dressed in a suit and tie, joked that he would have worn more casual clothes to the North Iredell farm if he didn’t have a meeting in D.C. after his visit.
The first-term senator told Dr. Ben Shelton, owner of Rocky Creek, and others that getting congressional support for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) legislation is a priority.
DACA, a federal program enacted by the Obama administration in 2012 and partially rescinded by the Trump administration in September, allows people who were brought to the United States illegally as children -- known as "Dreamers" -- the right to live and work here with a permit. Several DACA-like bills are now in Congress.
According to the National Agricultural Workers Survey and the Washington Post, 77 percent of farm workers are foreign born or crossed a border to work in the United States.
Tillis, a Republican, toured Rocky Creek's facilities before meeting with about 30 area farmers and N.C. Farm Bureau employees to discuss issues. A Tillis representative told a Record & Landmark reporter that members of the media were not allowed to sit in on the meeting to allow farmers to have "candid conversations" with the senator.
Afterward, Tillis told the newspaper that the farmers voiced common concerns about immigration reform.
“Their future survival really depends on whether or not we get it right," Tillis said. "There are millions of positions that can only be filled by guest workers because first off we are at a high rate of employment, but we simply do not have people at these farm operations lining up. If we don’t start recognizing this industry and our ability to grow food ... we (will) rely on other countries to provide. That is not a place the United States wants to be.”
It's simply difficult to find people to work on a farm, said Doug Holland, president of the farm bureau.
“You have to have that desire and that ability to work and I think we’ve lost that in Americans today,” Holland said. “You talk to kids coming out of school today and they are looking for that job making a pile of money. They don’t realize you got to start out somewhere here and work your way up. It is not starting out at the top.”
Meeting with the senator gave Holland some hope, he said.
“I think he gets it and if we can educate him then we can educate those around him," Holland said. "It goes out from here and he’s told the guys in there today, ‘I need your help educating North Carolina’s congressional district.' If we can get our representatives across the state ... to understand this, it makes his job a lot easier.”
John Allen, Shiloh Nursery owner, said he appreciates the attention Tillis has paid to the labor problem farmers are facing.
“I think Senator Tillis' intentions are awesome and I really appreciate the investment he’s put in it,” Allen said. “We’ve been trying to get a fix for this for a long time. It’s a significant problem and the thing about it is these people contribute to our community, they contribute with tax money, they are renting property and a lot of people don’t realize they are paying taxes.”
Creating a more accessible way for immigrants to register for a visa or participate in a work program could be a key solution to the problem, Allen said.
“I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘Why don’t they just go and get legal?’ It is not just hard, it is not possible. It does not exist,” Allen said. “At least give them a way to get legal so they can live a reasonable life.”
Read the article here.
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