IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaea25/360898.html

Immigration Enforcement and Food Safety: Evidence from US Meat and Poultry Processing Plants

Author

Listed:
  • Wagle, Sampada
  • Katarej, Bhagyashree

Abstract

Immigrant labor constitutes a substantial portion of the US meat and poultry processing workforce. However, the downstream effects of deportations targeting these immigrants on their food safety practices remain largely unexamined. We provide novel empirical evidence that increased deportations of undocumented immigrants are associated with a rise in food safety inspection violations, suggestive of reduced food safety quality at these establishments. We also find evidence that wages and labor market dynamics adjust in ways consistent with labor shortages following deportations, marked by increases in wages, hires, separations, and employment, along with a modest reduction in turnover. By examining the potential downstream food safety risks associated with deportations, this research contributes to the broader policy discussion about the spillover effects of immigration enforcement on food safety and consumer welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Wagle, Sampada & Katarej, Bhagyashree, 2025. "Immigration Enforcement and Food Safety: Evidence from US Meat and Poultry Processing Plants," 2025 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2025, Denver, CO 360898, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea25:360898
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.360898
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/360898/files/75239_95999_105300_AAEA_June18.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.360898?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephens-Davidowitz, Seth, 2014. "The cost of racial animus on a black candidate: Evidence using Google search data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 26-40.
    2. Timothy J Richards, 2018. "Immigration Reform and Farm Labor Markets," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 100(4), pages 1050-1071.
    3. Richards, Timothy J., "undated". "Immigration Reform and Farm Labor Markets," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274165, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Hacker, Karen & Chu, Jocelyn & Leung, Carolyn & Marra, Robert & Pirie, Alex & Brahimi, Mohamed & English, Margaret & Beckmann, Joshua & Acevedo-Garcia, Dolores & Marlin, Robert P., 2011. "The impact of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on immigrant health: Perceptions of immigrants in Everett, Massachusetts, USA," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(4), pages 586-594, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Castillo, Marcelo & Simnitt, Skyler & Astill, Gregory & Minor, Travis, 2021. "Examining the Growth in Seasonal Agricultural H-2A Labor," Economic Information Bulletin 327365, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Huang, Kuan-Ming & Guan, Zhengfei, 2022. "Increasing minimum wages and farmers’ hiring decisions," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322556, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Diane Charlton, 2022. "Seasonal farm labor and COVID‐19 spread," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(3), pages 1591-1609, September.
    4. Diane Charlton & Marcelo Castillo, 2021. "Potential Impacts of a Pandemic on the US Farm Labor Market," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 39-57, March.
    5. Jeff Luckstead & Rodolfo M. Nayga & Heather A. Snell, 2023. "US domestic workers' willingness to accept agricultural field jobs," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(3), pages 1693-1715, September.
    6. Shrestha, Samyam, 2024. "Seasonal Labor Shortage and the Production and Trade of Labor-Intensive Goods: Evidence from U.S. Agriculture," 2024 Annual Meeting, July 28-30, New Orleans, LA 343996, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. An Li & Jeffrey J. Reimer, 2021. "The US Market for Agricultural Labor: Evidence from the National Agricultural Workers Survey," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(3), pages 1125-1139, September.
    8. Marcelo Castillo & Diane Charlton, 2023. "Housing booms and H‐2A agricultural guest worker employment," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(2), pages 709-731, March.
    9. A. Ford Ramsey & Barry Goodwin & Mildred Haley, 2021. "Labor Dynamics and Supply Chain Disruption in Food Manufacturing," NBER Chapters, in: Risks in Agricultural Supply Chains, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. William Ridley & Stephen Devadoss, 2021. "The Effects of COVID‐19 on Fruit and Vegetable Production," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 329-340, March.
    11. Hamilton, Lynn & McCullough, Michael P. & Brester, Gary W. & Atwood, Joseph, . "California’s Wage Rate Policies and Head Lettuce Prices," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 51(2).
    12. Dahye, Kim & Castillo, Marcelo & Rutledge, Zachariah, "undated". "Domestic Farm Employment and the H-2A Visa Program," 2024 Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, January 5-7, 2024, San Antonio, Texas 339079, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    13. Zachariah Rutledge & Pierre Mérel, 2023. "Farm labor supply and fruit and vegetable production," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(2), pages 644-673, March.
    14. Weersink, Alfons & von Massow, Mike & Bannon, Nicholas & Ifft, Jennifer & Maples, Josh & McEwan, Ken & McKendree, Melissa G.S. & Nicholson, Charles & Novakovic, Andrew & Rangarajan, Anusuya & Richards, 2021. "COVID-19 and the agri-food system in the United States and Canada," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    15. Diane Charlton & Genti Kostandini, 2021. "Can Technology Compensate for a Labor Shortage? Effects of 287(g) Immigration Policies on the U.S. Dairy Industry," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(1), pages 70-89, January.
    16. Rutledge, Zachariah & McGrady, Clare, 2025. "Nonfarm Work and Income Smoothing Among Domestic Farmworkers," 2025 Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, January 3-5, 2025, San Francisco, CA 359269, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    17. Lauren Chenarides & Timothy J. Richards & Bradley Rickard, 2021. "COVID‐19 impact on fruit and vegetable markets: One year later," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 69(2), pages 203-214, June.
    18. Cho, Seung Jin & Lee, Jun Yeong & Winters, John V., 2020. "COVID-19 Employment Status Impacts on Food Sector Workers," ISU General Staff Papers 202006080700001107, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    19. Ifft, Jennifer & Jodlowski, Margaret, 2022. "Is ICE freezing US agriculture? Farm-level adjustment to increased local immigration enforcement," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    20. repec:ags:aaea22:343996 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Rutledge, Zachariah & Mayorga, Joaquin, 2022. "Chinese Trade Competition and Mexican Farm Labor Supply," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322515, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:aaea25:360898. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.