Editorial: Deportations ahead

President-elect Trump reiterated his intention to deport every undocumented immigrant to their country of origin as he named Thomas Homan his “border czar” on Sunday. Trump made mass deportation a central plank of his campaign, and he said he would govern by keeping his promises.

Many people don’t believe that Trump will detain and deport legal residents currently under Temporary Protected Status (such as Haitians), as he pledged he would, or up to 20 million undocumented immigrants. Here is what Homan, a former director of Immigration Customs and Enforcement, told the Republican National Convention last summer:

“As a guy who spent 34 years deporting illegal aliens, I got a message to the millions of illegal aliens that Joe Biden’s released in our country in violation of federal law: You better start packing now. You’re damn right. Cause you’re going home.”

To be clear, Homan will hunt for immigrants who came here before Biden’s term, many of whom have resided in Northwest Iowa for 30 years or more. Homan said he plans to conduct worksite raids to find them. He will not have legal authority over enforcement. He will advise the president and coordinate deportation efforts. Trump was making a point by naming Homan among the first of his staff. Homan does not need Senate approval.

Food processing depends on immigrants. They are the workforce for produce, dairy, egg and livestock processing. While employers may say they do not employ the undocumented, we also know of many undocumented people in Buena Vista County who have worked in food processing. One was a man smothered in manure at Rembrandt Foods when a conveyor collapsed. He died.

Nobody actually knows how many undocumented live in Storm Lake. Advocates say at least a third of Latino residents here lack authentic papers. Some have lived here, worked, supported schools and churches, and paid taxes for decades.

Homan surely is aware that undocumented people work in Iowa food processing.

However, President Trump in his first term at the height of the pandemic ordered meatpackers to continue operations, in conjunction with Governors Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska and Kristi Noem of South Dakota. Workers were ordered into the meatpacking plants. They were considered “essential workers” when meat prices shot up 50% virtually overnight. Now they are targeted as deportees. Which is it?

If you deport all undocumented people, food prices will rise. There simply will not be hands to pull the lettuce or crack the eggs. The livestock supply chain will plug up. Meatpacking will be forced to reduce production without rapid advances in automation.

Storm Lake’s population will plummet if immigrants are swept up in raids.

There are not enough agents to round them up, and so far attempts at drawing in local police as immigration agents have been frustrated in federal court. The Trump Administration will have to pick and choose where workplace raids can get the most effect. It’s usually easiest to start with the construction trades, right as we face a housing shortage.

We should recall the raids in 1996 when workers were penned up outside the pork plant in Storm Lake. It happened. The US government has kept Japanese American citizens in detention camps. It has held Mexicans at the border in tent cities and jails, separating children from their parents. It has denied refugees basic civil rights for years — when you can’t get a hearing you do not have due process. Mass deportation will be chaos, but Trump thrives on that. Everything indicates that it will happen.

We should brace for it. Our water system will be overbuilt. So will the schools, which will suffer a shrinking property tax base on which their expansion was predicated. Housing prices will fall. Retail businesses will close on Lake Avenue. Sales tax revenue will decline. It is unavoidable if we deport every undocumented immigrant.

The good news is that we might not suck Storm Lake’s water supply dry if we greatly reduce meatpacking production. Housing will be more affordable. We could concentrate on industries that use fewer natural resources.

That is effectively what we voted for: to deport immigrants en masse. Latinos voted for it. They think their cousins won’t get the pink slip. They think their jobs will be secure. Their Anglo neighbors who overwhelmingly supported Trump believe he will improve their standing. Judging from what Trump and Homan are saying, those voters made a bad bet. If the raids start here, we are in for a rough ride as Storm Lake adjusts to a new economic and cultural reality. Trump and Homan certainly sound determined to get the job done. We asked for it.