US immigration crackdown hits Kansas, disrupts beef processing
XLP•Immigration enforcement activity in southwest Kansas kept workers away from meatpacking jobs and delayed shipments of thousands of cattle, livestock groups and local officials said. USDA data showed cattle slaughter fell 16% on Thursday and 14% on Friday from a week earlier.
1. Processing disruptions
Immigration agents operated around Dodge City, Liberal and Garden City this week, according to community organizers and local officials. Organizers said workers stayed home for fear of arrest, while livestock groups reported workforce disruptions at processors, feedlots, dairies and grain companies and delays to shipments of thousands of cattle.
2. Slaughter falls
Meatpackers slaughtered an estimated 90,000 cattle on Thursday, down 16% from a week earlier, and 87,000 on Friday, down 14%, the USDA said. Kansas ranks second nationwide in commercial cattle processing, behind Nebraska.
3. Officials and companies respond
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said ICE operations targeted people he described as criminals and said ICE was not conducting worksite operations in Kansas. National Beef said it was cooperating with the Department of Homeland Security in an orderly way and supporting employees.
