Western Kansans are piecing themselves back together and the massive beef industry is trying to regain stability after a week of immigration enforcement took towns by surprise.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement made traffic stops in the towns and parked near meatpacking plants that support the region’s agriculture industry and rely heavily on immigrant labor.
The main targets were larger towns with meatpacking plants, and surrounding towns with feedlots and dairy farms. That caused disruptions for the state’s beef industry and disruptions in the personal lives of rural Kansans, like documented, skilled workers that put beef on the table.
Lizette Avalos-Morales is a local advocate who has been helping families recover. She said that disruption has affected people with legal status, especially those who may have mixed-status families, where parts of the family may be documented and others do not have legal status.
“In general, it's traumatizing. One of our community members detained doesn’t have anyone to look after her children born in the U.S., so those kids will have to leave the country with her,” Avalos-Morales said.
In Liberal, volunteers have spent the days in the wake of the federal enforcement contacting families, putting them in touch with resources and aiding young adults left in charge of younger siblings — after parents were both detained.
Agents pulled over multiple people during the operation despite living in the U.S. legally, leaving them uncomfortable or afraid despite their status.
“For these people affected by detainments, there will never be a normal for them,” Avalos-Morales said.
Avalos-Morales’ main focus now is supporting the community members who still might be afraid to leave their house.
Her and other volunteers with donations put together 150 grocery boxes with pantry staples including milk, eggs and bread. She said they were gone the same day, with the help of local churches.
For the local industries both large and small, the actions may have them trying to work with less employees.
Hector Rodriguez joined the family business doing construction in Garden City. There is video of his friend, who has legal status, being detained and questioned by ICE.
“Agents had pulled up, and he got scared, so he tried to run away,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said his friend remained scared and uncertain after he was released. That fear still lingers throughout the community, according to Rodriguez.
Three roofers and friends of his family were detained in Ness City, and while that hurts the family business, Rodriguez said he is more worried for their families.
“Some of these people we grew up with and have known our entire lives. Some of them taught us and helped us,” Rodriguez said.
The Kansas Livestock Association released a joint statement on the ICE activity with the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association and Texas Cattle Feeders Association.
The groups said that the presence of federal agents throughout the towns caused “thousands of fed cattle slated for shipping to processors now delayed, resulting in millions of dollars in lost revenue and additional costs.”
What that could look like for consumers is an increase in beef prices because of a tightening of the beef supply.
The groups highlighted workforce disruptions at numerous supply chain chokepoints such as feedlots and dairies, in which immigrants make up as much as half of the nation’s workforce.
Calen Moore covers western Kansas for High Plains Public Radio and the Kansas News Service. You can email him at cmoore@hppr.org.
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