Immigration

New Republic - Trump’s anti-immigration policy is the most obvious example. "The role of immigrants in the American food system is difficult to overstate," Frida Garza and Ayurella Horn-Muller write for Grist and El País. "Every year, hundreds of thousands of people, the vast majority of them coming from Mexico, legally obtain H-2A visas that allow them to enter the U.S. as seasonal agricultural workers and then return home when the harvest is done." Another estimated 1.7 million undocumented workers are also employed "in some part of the U.S. food supply chain." 

What would happen if all those workers suddenly disappeared? Replacing them, Garza and Horn-Muller report, wouldn’t be easy, since U.S. workers often don’t find these jobs appealing. The shock to the system would likely drive a spike in food prices. And even if mass deportation policies didn’t survive legal challenges, the "chilling effect" of the threat could still disrupt the industry—and harm a lot of people.