Donald Trump's immigration policy is increasing pressure on the country's factories, since more experienced foreign workers are being forced to leave their jobs, according to US workers and leaders. After economists warn that the massive deportation plans of the White House can cost millions of jobs, workers from two factories in Michigan and Kentucky tell The Guardian that large industries are already facing a worrying shortage of labor.
Trump has promoted measures to strip more than one million migrants of his legal status in the United States, including, through the Closing of the Temporary Permanence Program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV)which allowed hundreds of thousands of people to work legally in the country. At the same time, it has intensified the raids against migrants, with a daily objective of up to 3,000 arrests
These measures have increased pressure on industries from all sectors, food, hospitality, construction, transport and care, which depend on a large number of migrants to perform essential work.
This spring, more than 125 employees of the Ge Appliances plant in Louisville, Kentucky, were fired abruptly after the cancellation of several programs linked to Trump's offensive against migration, as a worker has reported. The company produces appliances such as refrigerators, microwave and dishwasher.
Jess Reese, a substitute operator of the factory and organizer of the local IUE-CWA union 83761, explains that “in three different buildings, in a couple of different turns, the delegates reported that there had been a fall in production, so they could not manufacture all the products they owed”. “It was difficult to cover certain tasks in the assembly chain, which caused chaos and hindered the job,” he says.
Reese expresses its concern about the threat that more workers are forced to leave the company. According to him, Trump's plans to revoke Protected status could affect another 200 members of the union next February. “That hundreds of workers disappear overnight is no joke, as we have seen with the last wave of mass layoffs,” he says.
A GE Appliances spokesman has indicated that they will add “additional staff where it was necessary.” “We continue to comply with the law,” he added.
Meanwhile, at the Kraft-Heinz plant in Holland, Michigan, the union denounces that workers have been forced to do extra hours. The company is one of the world's largest food and beverage companies, owner of brands such as the Philadelphia cream cheese and the Heinz ketchup
Workers with 20 years old
“We had workers with an age of 20 who, suddenly, received a notification that their residence permit was revoked,” explains Tomás Torres, a maintenance mechanic for 13 years and president of the local RWDSU union 705. “They can no longer work in the factory and that is a burden for all,” he adds.
“Personal lack in the production lines. There are employees who handle two machines, when there should be one person in each one. Managers and supervisors are overwhelmed and cancel staff holidays because they do not have enough template to operate,” he laments.
Torres says that he has been working between 12 and 14 hours a day, and has come to be part of the first turn, the entire second shift and part of the third. “I am tired. I have seen workers fall asleep in the production line, and that is a job security problem,” he adds. “Everything that has happened (as a result of the measures against migrants) has affected all workers in the plant. It is crazy, I hear people complain every day.”
Kraft Heinz has denied that the plant is suffering personnel shortage due to changes in immigration policy, although it has not specified how many workers have been lost due to those changes.
In a statement, the company has indicated that “Kraft Heinz has strict processes of verification of work permits that comply with all applicable laws and regulations.” According to the company, “the overtime depend on the needs of the company, and we are currently in one of our seasons with the most demand of the year.”
Economic consequences
While the Trump administration continues with the measures, economists have warned that the deportation of millions of United States migrants could have serious consequences. According to estimates of the Institute of Economic Policy published this month, the expulsion of 4 million people would involve the loss of 3.3 million jobs currently occupied by migrants and another 2.6 million played by workers born in the country, with a strong impact on sectors such as construction and child care.
For its part, the American Enterprise Instituteand think tank Conservative, has concluded that Trump's immigration policies will probably cause a negative net migration to the United States for the first time in decades and will lead to a decrease in the American gross domestic product of between 0.3 % and 0.4 %, which represents between 70,500 and 94,000 million dollars (64,860 million euros and 86,480 million euros) in economic production per year.
“One day,” says María José Padmore, Assistant to Human Services in Fairfax County, in Virginia. “And, the next day, I look for my co -worker and it is no longer because it has expired its temporal protection status.”
“Let's leave the fact that I also have to assume the work of my classmates, let's think of their families: how are they going to put food on the table?” He asks.
This month, Padmore participated in a round table on how Trump's migratory policies are affecting the workers, organized by AFL-CI, the largest workers' central in the country, and which was held in Washington. Gwen Mills, Unite Here president, the largest union in the hotel sector, said that these policies are “wreaked havoc on the families of our co -workers and in our communities.”
“Often, within the trade union movement, we are divided by sectors,” explains Jimmy Williams, president of the International Union of Painters and Related Crafts, which represents construction workers. “On the other hand, in relation to migration, it is perhaps the only topic that unites a hotel worker, one of the construction, someone from the services sector, a public employee or a teacher. It is something that affects each working person in this country.”
The Trump administration alleges that the program that allowed the stay of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans and other programs that granted temporary protection status were subject to “abuse”, an affirmation that groups such as groups have refuted Refugees International.
“There is no shortage of American minds and hands to grow our work mass. President Trump's plans to create jobs for US workers represent the commitment of this administration to take advantage of that unplug potential, while fulfilling our mandate to enforce our immigration laws,” said Abigail Jackson, White House spokesman.
But those administration policies are already causing fear and anxiety in factories. “This has a real impact on migrant workers, obviously, but also has a real impact on the rest of the workers,” says Jess Reese, of the Ge Appliances plant in Louisville. “It is very important that we stay together, because we all want the same. We want safe workplaces. We want good salaries. We all want to return home with our family healthy and saved. We want to live in a safe place. We want to be free. They are objectives that we all share and we will only get them if we continue to do a common front,” he concludes.
Translation by Emma Reverter.
