As families across the country prepare for summer cookouts, busy restaurant seasons, and Fourth of July gatherings, our national coalition is highlighting that affordable, U.S.-produced food depends on the workers who plant, harvest, prepare, serve, and deliver it. Watch the full press conference:
鈥淲hen one link in the food supply chain is broken, everyone suffers鈥� Chefs, business owners, farm hands, and grocers who have been here 5, 10 years still have no pathway to legal permanent status in this country,鈥� said U.S. Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN-02), Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee, emphasizing her support for the Farm Workforce Modernization Act and the Dignity Act. 鈥淚 [also] introduced the Strengthening our Workforce Act which would provide non-citizens working in critical sectors like agriculture, health care, and emergency services a path to legal permanent status.鈥�
鈥淭he whiplash of aggressive work site enforcement is paralyzing the city’s food community鈥� When workers live in constant fear, it paralyzes businesses and communities,鈥� said James Beard Award-winning chef Karyn Tomlinson of Myriel. 鈥淵ou cannot separate the food on the plate from the well-being of the people who brought it there and who are currently here working to put food on the table, and some who have been doing so for decades.鈥�
The roundtable and press conference took place Friday in Minnesota, and was hosted by Seat the Table, which was founded by ABIC Action, The James Beard Foundation, and Texas Restaurant Association and more leaders from the food and hospitality industry.
Chefs and business leaders across sectors highlighted how a work permit program for the long-term immigrants sustaining hospitality, agriculture and other sectors is critical to ensuring affordability of food and other goods and stabilizing communities.
鈥淚ncreased work permits are a practical workforce solution to a decades long challenge for both agriculture and hospitality鈥�.Giving these long-standing immigrants a legal way to keep working鈥揚eople who already live and contribute here 鈥搃s one of the easiest ways to keep our industries running,鈥� said Angie Whitcomb, President and CEO of Hospitality Minnesota
Persistent labor gaps in food production, hospitality, elder care, construction, and agriculture are putting pressure on businesses and families, and speakers discussed the need for practical workforce solutions, including work permits for long-term immigrant contributors who have been working, paying taxes, and helping keep essential industries running.
In Minnesota, a shrinking workforce has left nearly , severely squeezing the state鈥檚 agricultural and hospitality sectors.
More from the ABIC Network:
More and more DACA recipients (who were originally brought to the U.S. as children) are losing their work permits and protections due to renewal processing delays, even after doing everything right and on time.
Sign the ABIC Action Letter: President Trump has successfully secured the border; now it is time for Congress to expedite the renewal of DACA applications facing delays; halt deportations of DACA-holders; and pass long-term solutions that guarantee protections for Dreamers such as the bipartisan Durbin/Murkowski Dream Act in the Senate and the bipartisan Salazar/Escobar Dignity Act in the House.
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Related media: Powerful stories of DACA Dreamers across the country dealing with job loss, anxiety, and uncertain futures all because of delays in their DACA renewals are being shared by The project at . One DACA recipient, Sara in LA, shared her story:
鈥�”I have left behind the 200 students I served as a history teacher for. It is truly heartbreaking to receive messages that they need me back and miss our classroom environment, yet I cannot do anything but wait in despair for action to be taken. 鈥�
Andrew Tisch, ABIC Board Member and former Co-Chairman of the Board of the Executive Committee of Loews Corporation, wrote in Forbes the U.S. is shrinking its workforce via immigration policy at the same time demographic trends already point toward slower growth.
The numbers are stark:
- In 2025, the U.S. recorded negative net migration for the first time in at least half a century
- Monthly job growth slowed to 29,000 at the end of last year, down from 166,000 per month in 2024聽
- Researchers project current policies will reduce cumulative GDP by $1.9 trillion through 2028
The ripple effects are also wide:
- Food prices are rising as agricultural labor, 68% foreign-born, disappears
- Social Security and Medicare will deteriorate faster with fewer workers paying in.聽
- Innovation is at risk: 46% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children
Tisch wrote the bipartisan Dignity Act of 2025 is one potential path forward, offering deportation protection and work authorization for eligible undocumented immigrants without a blanket path to citizenship.
President Trump signed an executive order directing financial regulators to scrutinize bank accounts and curtail lending for undocumented immigrants, and the political fallout is already emerging within a voting bloc Republicans are counting on this November.
Massey Villarreal, co-chair of Comit茅 de 100, a bipartisan coalition of Latino business leaders, issued a pointed warning:
Villarreal, a longtime Republican and Houston-based CEO, argued that pushing Latino families and small businesses away from the banking system threatens economic growth. “Our vote is won with respect,” he said. “And we are looking at who is respecting us.”
The stakes are real. Latino voters helped power Trump’s 2024 coalition, but support is slipping. Approval from Latino Trump voters has dropped 27 percentage points since the start of the second term.
News Briefing
The Trump administration announced that most foreigners seeking green cards will have to return to their home countries to apply, rather than adjusting their status from inside the U.S.
The change could affect hundreds of thousands of people who entered legally on temporary visas, including spouses of U.S. citizens. Over 820,000 green cards were approved for people already inside the country in 2024 alone.
: 鈥淭he president and other senior officials often claim they support immigration when it is done legally, but these measures suggest that rhetoric is hollow.
With the country in desperate need of workers, it鈥檚 bad policy. In a nation where a clear majority welcomes law-abiding immigrants, it鈥檚 also bad politics.鈥�
The Trump administration will extend Temporary Protected Status for roughly 11,000 Lebanese nationals through November 27, allowing them to continue living and working legally in the U.S. The notice cited ongoing regional tensions and Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon.
The extension is a notable exception to the administration’s broader push to end TPS enrollments across the board. Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem had terminated the status for multiple countries as they came up for renewal, prompting lawsuits alleging the terminations lacked proper review. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on TPS terminations affecting Haitians and Syrians by late June or early July.
In a long-awaited draft bill that is not yet introduced, House Agriculture Chairman G.T. Thompson outlines an expansion of the H-2A farm labor program that aligns with the priorities of growers grappling with nationwide labor shortages, according to a House Ag aide who spoke with Politico
Notably, the draft legislation would allow any contract under 350 days to qualify as 鈥渢emporary鈥� regardless of whether the underlying job is year-round, meaning operations like dairy farms would qualify for H-2A workers, a longtime industry demand.
Texas farmers are scrambling this season as visa delays have left them without the foreign agricultural workers they depend on. Paperwork backlogs, repeated denials, and more rigorous consulate interviews have pushed arrival dates weeks or months past when workers were needed, with some farmers still waiting.
The consequences are piling up. One producer is working 70-plus hours a week covering tasks his missing worker would handle. Another had to travel to Arizona to borrow workers from other orchards as a stopgap.
The farmers say hiring 91探花s hasn’t been a viable alternative.
鈥淚 love to hire 91探花s that want to work鈥n the U.S., it鈥檚 just not the work that people want to do,鈥� said farmer Jay Ray Sageser.
Applicants are hard to find, and those who do show up often leave when faced with 10 to 12 hour days doing physically demanding work.
Construction was already short 349,000 workers this year before the Trump administration’s enforcement push made things worse. A recent NBER study found construction employment among likely undocumented immigrants dropped 7.5% in areas where ICE conducted raids, with fear keeping even non-targeted workers off job sites. Immigrants make up an estimated 35% of the industry’s workforce.
Economists warn the fallout is broader than lost workers. Fewer immigrants means slower population growth, less demand for new construction, and a drag on the broader economy.
A wave of Trump administration immigration policies are dismantling Silicon Valley鈥檚 competitive and economic edge, area leaders say.
The human costs are already visible. A Palo Alto nursing home has lost seven DACA employees whose permits expired before renewals arrived, with 12 more at risk. One entrepreneur moved his medical startup to India after visa barriers made it impossible to hire the engineers he needed, taking dozens of jobs with him.
鈥淒onald Trump is pouring liquid Drano over the world鈥檚 greatest magnet for human genius,鈥� said California Rep. Sam Liccardo, D-San Jose. 鈥淎nd we鈥檙e going to pay the price for generations.鈥�
International students contribute $43 billion to the U.S. economy annually, and immigrants founded over 40% of Bay Area tech startups.
The Summer Work Travel Program, operated by the Department of State, draws about 100,000 international students each summer. To qualify, students must obtain a J-1 visa for work-and-study exchange visitors.
Visa suspensions, tightened screening, and policy uncertainty are discouraging applicants from multiple countries. Sponsors also note that shifting U.S. economic and diplomatic standing may be pushing some students toward other countries entirely.
Get Involved
- Join one of ABIC’s Councils of 100 and let your voICE be heard with your peers – . The Council of 100 is a coalition of top business leaders working to advance common-sense workforce solutions.
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ABIC in the news. . .
- Forbes Editorial: (05/28/26)
- Fox News: (04/24/26)
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- Y100.7 Miami: (04/22/26)
- Key Biscayne Independent: (04/22/26)
- POLITICO: (04/21/26)
- POLITICO: (04/18/26)
- The Washington Post: (04/17/26)
- Main Public: (04/07/26)
- Barn Raiser: (04/02/26)
- Politico: (03/29/26)
- WFMZ: (03/26/26)
- WPLG (Local 10 Miami): (03/26/26)
- La Opinion: (03/26/26)
- Nation鈥檚 Restaurant News (Syndicated by Yahoo!Finance): (3/10/26)
- FOX KDFW-TV: (3/10/26)
- NBC KXAS-TV: (3/10/26)
- ABC KVUE-TV (Syndicated by Yahoo!News): (3/10/26)听
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