esquire magazine has come out with an expose on devin nunes and his family farm.
evidently is family sold their california farm a decade ago and bought one in iowa in steve kings distict
nunes,who mentions his family farm a lot never mentions that it isnt in california any longer.
according to sources in sibley iowa where the farm is now located it employes a lot of illegal immigrants as do most of the dairy farms in the area.
I wonder how this will appear to his base in his district
Other dairy farmers in the area helped me understand why the Nunes family might be so secretive about the farm: Midwestern dairies tend to run on undocumented labor. The northwest-Iowa dairy community is small. Most of the farmers know one another, and most belong to a regional trade group called the Western Iowa Dairy Alliance (though WIDA told me NuStar is not a member).
One dairy farmer said that the threat of raids from ICE is so acute that WIDA members have discussed forming a NATO-like pact that would treat a raid on one dairy as a raid on all of them. The other pact members would provide labor to the raided dairy until it got back on its feet.
“Eighty percent of the Latino population out here in northwest Iowa is undocumented,” estimated one dairy farmer in the area who knows the Nunes family and often sees them while buying hay in nearby Rock Valley. “It would be great if we had enough unemployed Americans in northwest Iowa to milk the cows. But there’s just not. We have a very tight labor pool around here.”
Prosecute any and all who are intentionally or recklessly hiring illegals. If they cannot stay in business without hiring foreigners, let them apply for that type of visa. If there are not sufficient then petition the government. If that is rejected, then too bad but you don’t get a free pass on our laws.
But it’s an open secret that the system is built on easily obtained fraudulent documents. “I just look at the document—Hey, this looks like a good driver’s license, permanent resident card, whatever the case is—and that’s what you go with, the farmer said.
A second northwest-Iowa dairy farmer who knows the Nunes family told me, “They show you a Social Security card, we take out Social Security taxes. Where’d they get the card? I have no idea.” I asked what the chances are that a farm the size of NuStar uses only fully legal dairy workers. “It’s next to impossible,” the first dairy farmer said. “There’s no dang way.”
That has always been my thought as well. But hey, it’s a lot easier to keep folks whipped up angry if you never talk about the source of the problem.
In the story the localities take a don’t ask don’t tell sort of approach with the legal status of the labor… almost what one would call a sanctuary city attitude.
The Nunes aspect of this story might get headlines, but the most interesting thing is how dairy farmers and voters in Iowa continue to support politicians who champion policies that would essentially destroy their communities. The city in the article swung 70% in favor of Trump, yet if Trump had his way the dairy industry there would be destroyed.
