Union: Work visas revoked for 200 Iowa meatpacking workers

More than 200 workers at an Ottumwa meatpacking plan were notified this month by their employer that their work visas have been revoked, and now face potential deportation, according to a union official.

Brian Ulin, secretary treasurer for the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 1846 that represents JBS USA workers in Ottumwa, told The Gazette over 200 meatpacking plant workers were informed that they were no longer eligible to work in the U.S. due to a verification check done by JBS. The Brazilian-based company is one of the nation's largest meatpackers and is the largest employer in Ottumwa.

JBS workers losing their visas was first reported by the Ottumwa Courier.

The U.S. Supreme Court in May ruled in favor of the Trump administration, allowing them to revoke temporary legal status for approximately 500,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. These individuals, who were granted temporary protected status (TPS) under the Biden administration, now face potential deportation as the Supreme Court lifted a lower court's order that had blocked the Trump administration's policy change. TPS is a temporary immigration status granted to eligible nationals of designated countries facing armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions.

JBS, in a statement to The Gazette, said it is following the guidance of the U.S. government “and some employees have been impacted by a revocation of their previously legal status.” The Ottumwa facility primarily processes and distributes pork.

The company said it is not providing workers with $1,000 each to help with their efforts to self-deport and return to their home countries, as some have suggested in news reports.

The Trump administration in May announced it was offering a $1,000 incentive to migrants who "self-deport" using the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Home App that was once used to seek asylum, NPR reported.

“We are only informing them that we have been made aware of their change in status. If those employees are unable to present evidence of ongoing/reverified work authorization then we are required to terminate their employment,” a company spokesperson responded in an email to The Gazette.

“At JBS, we have best-in-class workforce eligibility and compliance standards,” the company said. “We are focused on hiring team members who are legally authorized to work in the United States, and will continue to follow the guidance provided to us by the U.S. government. If that guidance changes, we will act accordingly. We are communicating to any impacted employees that if their status changes or they have different documentation to share, they are eligible for reinstatement and/or rehire. At this point in time, our facilities are operating normally and our production levels remain unchanged.”

Ulin said the work visa revocations affect about 10 percent of the Ottumwa plant’s production workforce. The Ottumwa plant employs about 2,400 to 2,500 total workers, he said.

Ulin said the union is attempting to provide legal assistance to affected workers and reaching out to members of Congress to urge them to intervene.

City and union officials say the Trump administration’s actions are tearing apart families, disrupting local economics, threatening food supply chains, exacerbating worker shortages and potentially leading to higher grocery store prices.

Ulin said the loss of the workers and their families will hurt Ottumwa’s economy. While JBS has a diverse workforce and typically can attract new applicants, the process of replacing these workers will not be immediate and will create strain on the current employees until new staff are fully trained and integrated, he said.

He said the workers were not just employees, but part of the community, with families and social connections. Their departure will create economic ripples that go beyond just the immediate workforce reduction at the meatpacking plant, and that the community will experience a noticeable economic contraction due to the sudden loss of students, customers and renters.

Ulin said stressed these are people who are not criminals, and were trying to make a better life for themselves and their families, and who believed they were working legally.

“I just think it's an unfortunate situation, and I personally don't think it's fair,” he said. “ … I think it's very unfortunate that, through politics, these people are being directly affected by something out of their control. … A lot of these people make friends. They become part of the communities when they're here for a while, and it's almost like you're losing part of your family when they leave.”

Asked Tuesday by The Gazette about the work visa revocations and concerns of community members, Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, of Marion, said: “The State Department needs to do a thorough look at every workforce visa, that's something that I think we heard loud and clear in terms of immigration across the board.

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“There's a lot of illegal immigration in this country that we're handling right now, and I'm working with the administration and (White House ‘border czar’) Tom Homan to deport dangerous illegals in our communities,” Hinson said. “But for workforce visas, many of the temporary protected status are designed to be temporary, and we need to take a look at the home countries and what conditions may have changed. And I know that Secretary (of State Marco) Rubio and the State Department are doing a thorough look at that right now.“

Ottumwa is located in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional district represented by Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, of Bondurant.

Nunn’s office did not immediately respond to a message Tuesday seeking comment for this article.

U.S. agriculture producers have warned that mass deportations of farmworkers will negatively impact farms and agricultural businesses in the country by depleting their workforce.

During an event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds July, Trump said he was working on a policy that would allow farmworkers without legal status to stay in the country with support from their employers.

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Trump said at the Iowa State Fairgrounds event July 3 that he was working on legislation with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem that would aid impacted businesses and farms by allowing employers to vouch for their undocumented employees to allow them to remain in the country.

"If a farmer is willing to vouch for these people in some way, Kristi, I think we're going to have to just say that's going to be good, right?" Trump said, adding later, “We don’t want to do it where we take all of the workers off the farms.”

Rollins, however, walked back Trump’s proposal days later after receiving blow back from the president’s most ardent supporters, who have criticized the administration for giving special treatment to farms.

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Speaking to reporters at a news conference July 8, Rollins said there will be “no amnesty” for agricultural workers from mass deportations, which will continue “but in a strategic way.” Rollins told reporters that she thinks Medicaid work requirements — included in Trump’s agenda-setting tax and spending bill — and automation could replace threatened migrant farmworkers.

Rollins said the Trump administration is focused on protecting the U.S. food supply in the short term, and that the administration’s “promise to America to ensure that we have a 100 percent American workforce stands, but we must be strategic in how we are implementing the mass deportation so as not to compromise our food supply.”

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com