Sarah Taber

(and if you're wondering "Why make review videos?" 1) it's a fun way to reach people w good info and 2) making nothing but "here's what's going on in farm news" is bumming me tf out. it's time for Balance)

Got any good farm movie/TV show recs? Especially reality shows!

I wanna make some review videos. So bonus points if it's a show that would make for a good crispy review 🥓🍳

So yeah....... that's how the "maybe it's ok for violent offenders" concept is working out 😭

Eventually, they realized schoolboys are useless for farm labor.

So now Florida's got Alligator Alcatraz. A brand-new prison just for immigrants who were arrested while working on farms! Right in the middle of FL's major agricultural areas!

What a wild coincidence!

Then, once it started, they left the violent offenders right in the safe little jailhouse where they could keep an eye on them.

And filled the farm contractor school buses with every broke schoolboy they could find.

But the fun part? This is the EXACT logic that the state of Florida used to get voters to back this program.

"Yeahhhhhh we're gonna make the BAD GUYS work on FARMS, it's gonna be so fuckin' HARDCORE and JUSTICE will be SERVED."

In theory it sounds real good, doesn't it?

bsky.app/profile/jame...

The biggest problem wasn't "ooh dangerous criminals." It was that they were gawky teenage boys who had no idea where their feet were & kept stepping on the seedlings we'd just planted.

like c'mon gamers get it together

Literally kids. One crew was kids who were doing "community service" for juvie. Another was almost entirely 19-year-old weed & Xbox boys.

I was out there by myself with crews of dozens of them & never at any point felt unsafe. Even if they wanted to start trouble, they were clumsy asf 😭

Violent offenders would make the profitability of your prison crew go RIGHT out the window.

Boooooo! So sad! At that point, why even bother putting together an inmate crew?

And that's why real life prison crews aren't ~hardened criminals.~

They're usually kids caught with low-level drug charges.

If you give a violent offender a pick, shovel, or any other work tool? They don't work. They smash your head in with it & run off.

Supervising them is WORK. It's scary. Nobody wants to do it.

Sure you could. like. hire ex-Marines as your wardens. But then you'd have to pay mercenary salaries.

No actually this is a perfect moment to nitpick this.

I've worked with convict crews on farms.

Believe me when I tell you, the LAST thing convict labor crews want is violent offenders with a track record of successfully beating people up.

Nah the 13th Amendment clearly says slavery is legal "as a punishment for criminals."

Why do you think they're getting so high & mighty about how entering the US without the right paperwork is a crime

(it's not- not even a misdemeanor, it's a civil violation on par with a parking ticket)

Exactly.

See also "Raiding agricultural workplaces, arresting the workers, & driving away without arresting anyone in management or ownership."

ICE's tweet is a QT of a tweet from @NCHouseGOP, w a pic of Rep Julia Greenfield (NC House dist. 100, D-Mecklenberg) asking "Who will pick our crops?"

QT says "Who will pick our crops?" is not a border policy. Democrats are treating illegal immigration like a staffing issue, not a security crisis."

alt text. Screenshot of a tweet from @ICEgov (twitter).

"Knowingly hiring illegal workers is not a staffing issue- IT'S A CRIME. It undercuts legitimate American business and is often linked to forced labor, human trafficking and other crimes."

d'oh I forgot to put alt texts on everything aaaaaa hang on lemme do replies w alt-text rq

This is why they pay you the big bucks ICE! You keep covering them butts real nice like they asked 🤠

Final note, I love that ICE, even at their most flustered, still puts a "Knowingly" in front of "hiring illegal workers is a crime."

That way they can talk all big & bad, but employers still feel safe bc all they have to do is go 👉👈 omg officer I had NO IDEA they were undocumented

The folks in charge of the US right now DO NOT want people asking asking these questions. Because they just low key made slavery great again.

They're desperate to turn it around.

That's why if you dare to ask "Who will pick the crops?" the folks who just re-legalized slavery… call you pro-crime.

Rep. Greenfield is asking exactly the right questions.

If the US is going to feed itself, there are farm jobs that have to be done. So how are we gonna do it?

No, really! How?

Who's going to do the work? What will their lives be like?

Will we build a farm sector that offers jobs that free people can build our lives with? Or will we keep building jobs that only seem worthwhile to desperate people with no other options?

If only immigrants take these jobs, how do they get here?

What are the circumstances they work under?

YouTube video by Farm to Taber Yes. Here's what we'd have to change.

Since I came up as a farm worker, I've been pretty open about how Americans absolutely DO take farm jobs- when they're worth having.

I would know! That's what I did.

If you want to know how that works, I talk about it here!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdZf...

Now how's that link up to the ol' "Who will pick our crops" question?

These days I'm a small farmer. There's a saying in agriculture. "It doesn't matter what the laws are. Farmers will still get their workers one way or another."

So "Who will pick our crops?" is exactly what we should be asking.

So if ICE's tweet has the energy of a sweaty "Nuh-uhhh, I know you are but what am I?"

That's why!

The Trump administration just gutted critical anti-slavery protections for legal, documented farm workers.

And then they fired the people who enforced the ones we had left.

Trump’s Federal Workforce Cuts Hit Labor Department Enforcement The Department of Labor terminated employees across at least six departments in recent weeks, potentially curbing the agency’s ability to conduct inspections and ensure fair pay and safety for workers...

Anyway. To actually end slavery, you need a way for people who are being beaten, not paid, held hostage, etc at work to get help & get out. At least a hotline or something.

And Trump fired the folks whose job it was to pick up the phone... 6 months ago.

Matter of fact, we have a whole federal holiday dedicated to how "making an official declaration that slavery's over" isn't enough. You have to actually go to the plantations to see to it people are freed for real.

Juneteenth!

Just in case you were wondering why they want to cancel that too 💀

Maybe people get confused on what "ending slavery" looks like.

It doesn't come from grand sweeping gestures, declarations, & press conferences.

Freedom comes from follow-through. If someone's getting beaten on the job, there has to be a number they can call.

And someone has to pick up the phone.

US Department of Labor issues new guidance to provide clarity for farmers on H-2A worker regulations

And you know what Trump just did?

He just overturned all those updates. Back in June 2025.

Now, the system for *legal* farm immigration is back to the free-for-all that let people build a $200M slavery business in Georgia- with a license from the federal government.

www.dol.gov/newsroom/rel...

Biden’s New H-2A Rule Expands Protections and Increases Oversight for Migrant Workers - American Immigration Council A new rule is aimed at protecting migrant workers on temporary H-2A visas and strengthening oversight of their employers.

That's why Biden made updates to the H-2A guest worker program. Basic stuff: minimum wage enforcement. "If people are living on your property they need plumbing." "Don't take their passports."

To stop more slavery rings from happening!

www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/biden-h...

Sorry to my colleagues in agriculture, who might not like that I'm being so point-blank about how this works.

But folks, we have GOT to stop pussyfooting around with how our own industry functions. This is reality. We can deal with reality, or keep getting "surprised" by it & left behind.