In a deep dive focusing on one farmer who voted for Trump, 36-year-old J.J. Ficke of Kirk, Colorado, the Washington Post is reporting that he along with other farmers are facing possible ruination now that the round-up of immigrants have begun in earnest and promised helpis uncertain.
“The federal government had promised JJ a $200,000 grant, spread across two years, to cover the cost of a seasonal farmhand from Latin America.
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Noting, “JJ had joined 81 percent of Yuma County’s voters in supporting Trump, whom he considered the better of two bad options,” the report added, “JJ’s grant was frozen in late January as top administrators considered whether to cancel it. Over the next two months, more than 20 farmers requested $4 million owed to them, according to documents reviewed by The Post. None were paid.”
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Georgia produce farmer Mitch Lawson claimed he “lost nearly two dozen American employees before he qualified for $200,000,” with Lawson stating, “I’ve had a couple who didn’t even last a whole day.”
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“One night, in their kitchen, Kassidee [Ficke] prepared a meat loaf as she considered the relentless uncertainty their family navigated. How would the couple, who had no health insurance, pay for their daughter’s care if the administration and Congress gutted Medicaid?” the Post is reporting. “JJ never stopped accounting for the farming costs that would not quit climbing and the eastern Colorado drought that would not end. And now came the tariffs that could spike the price of equipment and the attacks on subsidies that protect commodity farmers when markets collapse.”
* Original Article:
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-farmers-2672410822/