Idaho’s $20 billion dairy industry is facing labor shortages due to immigration enforcement under the second Trump administration, which has deported nearly 3 million people in its first year back in office, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The number of immigrants living in the U.S. is declining for the first time since the 1960s, impacting farm labor availability in key agricultural states including Idaho, a deeply Republican state with a large dairy sector, per fortune.com.
The Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration has created fear among farmworkers, most of whom are foreign born. The Center for Migration Studies reports that 86% of U.S. farmworkers are foreign born and 45% are undocumented. Despite a 2025 suggestion from the administration that farms would not be targeted, farm labor declined by 7% between March and July 2025 nationwide, including in states that supported Trump such as Pennsylvania and those that did not like California, according to fortune.com.
This labor shortage threatens the agricultural sector, especially in states like Idaho where immigrant labor is critical. The decline in farmworkers is straining operations in the dairy industry, which relies heavily on immigrant labor. Public opinion in Idaho appears to diverge from federal policy, with the state’s agricultural economy feeling the impact of immigration enforcement despite its political alignment with the administration, as reported by fortune.com.
The ongoing labor shortage in Idaho’s dairy farms highlights the broader consequences of immigration policy on U.S. agriculture. The Center for Migration Studies data and Department of Homeland Security deportation figures underscore the scale of the workforce decline affecting the sector this year, according to fortune.com.