Posted on 03/29/2025 3:55:14 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
AVONDALE, Pa. — In this sleepy, rural corner of southeastern Pennsylvania that produces 70% of the nation’s mushrooms, President Donald Trump’s immigration policies are threatening the American dream for a tight-knit community of generational mushroom farmers and the immigrant workers they have long employed.
The year-round work of growing and picking the mushrooms that season the stews and stir-fries on American tables is the basis of the local economy in Avondale, a town of just over 1,200 people where more than 60% are Latino. In recent weeks, several immigrants in the area have already been arrested by federal immigration officials who said they were in the country illegally, leaving many worried about the fate of their families, their community and a $1 billion industry.
“You have to eat food every day. It’s a basic need for each person,” said Ruben, a 31-year-old from Mexico who works at a farm in the area. He’s been picking and harvesting mushrooms for 14 years and asked that his full name not be used for fear of deportation because he is undocumented.
“I don’t know what the government thinks would happen. Sadly, many families could end up without food on their tables, or at least they would have to pay a lot more for every product that ends up on their table,” he said in Spanish.
One multigenerational farm owner told NBC News that Avondale and businesses in nearby Kennett Square are “almost completely dependent on the mushroom farm industry.” NBC News is not naming the farm or farm owner due to their concerns they could be targeted with potential immigration enforcement actions.
“Everybody who lives here either works on a mushroom farm, does something adjacent or caters to the employees of the mushroom farms”.
“The town would be dead without us.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Multi generational- must have been farming before the illegals came.
How did they get the work done then?
Guy interviewed states he’s undocumented, meaning illegal and should arrested and deported. He’s been here 14 years which is 14 years to long, time to go along with all your illegal buddies.
Ruben...because he is undocumented.
Ahhh...there it is.
Its illegal to hire illegals! So the po’ po’ mushroom farmers can shove it.
Hire legals.
Pretty simple solution.
Sounds like a real fun guy
Oh, you mean its chocked full of ILLEGAL aliens? Get them out. Replace them with Americans. If you need to charge a little more, so be it.
Plenty of wild mushrooms around, and they are more tasty. Just have to know which ones are safe to eat. Usually those that grow on rotting tree stumps are good. The last time my wife and I were in Kennett Square Pa. was about 40 years ago. Didn’t see any foreign looking workers. Mushrooms grown there are very good though, we bought these huge golden ones, never seen them before, or since in any store.
PA Ping !!!
So the guy interviewed has lived in the US for 14 years?! And…”he said in Spanish”?!?! This is what pisses me off the most! You can’t f-ing learn the language? Hop on the bus Paco. Get your sorry ass back to Meh hee ko. Or wherever
BUT WHO WILL PICK THE CROPS?
I have no sympathy for businesses that hire illegals. They increase their profit margins by paying lower wages under the table while transferring the true cost of the illegal’s presence onto the back of the taxpayer, who has to pay for medial coverage at emergency rooms, schooling for their children, welfare payments, higher auto insurance costs....
There are visa programs for seasonal workers, do it right or suffer the well-deserved consequences.
Gotta love how they torture the language for this article. The refer to “legal and undocumented immigrants”. Can’t bring themselves to say illegal.
I am familiar with this area and all of this illegal immigration puts a huge strain on the school system. I think it is something like 25% or more of the students English is their second language and require additional resources while paying very little in school taxes.
Illegal immigration under Obama-Biden was never about cheap labor. It was about permanently changing the demographic of the electorate. Don’t get fooled by the “Oh, no, now who will pick the crops” diversions.
Wages go up and jobs are made more appealing. Mushroom production, sales and consumption continue.
I completely agree.
I hauled old hay to mushroom farm in MI when I was 16 in 1973
They used it to mix with manure to make mulch to grow mushrooms for Cambell Soup.
Rows of buildings that looked like storage lockers, filled with trays
Everyone working there were little brown men
ISWYDT
👍👍👍
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