Congressman Zach Nunn says JBS has been able to hire replacements for workers at the company’s Ottumwa pork plant who had their visas revoked and are being deported.
“Working with both JBS and Ottumwa, we’ve been able to ensure there are no slowdowns in the lines of production here and I think that’s really important. We’ve been able to get the new workforce in,” said Nunn, a Republican from Bondurant, represents the third congressional district, which includes Ottumwa.
President Trump ended a federal program that had allowed people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter the United States and work for up to two years. The move impacted over 200 JBS employees in Ottumwa. Nunn spoke with reporters on the last weekend of the Iowa State Fair and said after President Trump’s speech in Des Moines on July 3, he had an opportunity to lobby the Trump Administration about updating visa programs for foreign-born workers. “I flew back on Air Force One with Secretary Rollins, our ag secretary; Secretary Noem, our Homeland Security secretary; and the president and I said: ‘We need to have a pathway…so that immigrants can come here the right way,’” Nunn said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say illegal border crossings in July dropped to the lowest level ever in the 43 years the data has been reported. “We’ve got almost zero border crossings now,” Nunn said, “but now I want to make sure that we can make sure our ag producers are able to get the year-round visa support they need, our rural hospitals who have visiting nurses get the support they need, and our students who are studying here get the opportunity to stay.”
Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Marion, also spoke to reporters on the State Fair’s final weekend. She said there is a need for a strong agriculture workforce. “That starts with a lot of immigrants working in this country, but they need come here the right way,” Hinson said. “I do think we need to take a look at our workforce visas, whether they’re for skilled labor or doctors — J1s. I think we need to be looking at all of those. That’s all stuff that I think Secretary Rubio and the State Department are looking at and reviewing and we should be doing that. For far too long it’s just been status quo and that’s not a good way to do business.”
Hinson represents Iowa’s second congressional district. There are meatpacking plants in the district, but they are not owned by JBS.
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