Most of today’s walk carried me westward, north of both I84 and the Snake River valley, before finally turning north in Hagerman, just as the river made the same move. By day’s end, all three–my route, the river, and I84–would converge in the small town of Bliss. What stands out to me the most about the walk, though, is the beginning, when I walked in darkness along backroads, disrupted only by hulking, lumbering shadows, reminding me that I was passing through cattle yards.
It was in that darkness that two vehicles stopped alongside me, checking to make sure I was doing ok and offering rides. Both of those conversations took place in Spanish. I had been struck in Jerome by the extensive Latino presence in the town, with a pupusa stand, a Peruvian restaurant, a panaderia, and a huge selection of Mexican restaurants.
The Idaho Statesman first took note of immigration to Jerome in 2015, observing that the town’s Hispanic population had surged from 7% in 1990 to 34% in 2010. One Mexican immigrant’s initial impression of Jerome? “Muy feo!” In 2014, Hispanic students outpaced non-Hispanic students in Jerome’s schools for the first time. The article makes it clear that the integration process wasn’t perfect–in particular, there were some complaints about wages and city services–but on the whole, it seemed like a town that was navigating this process of change quite positively.
What’s interesting, though, is how farmers in the state responded to the Trump administration’s immigration policies in the years immediately following that article. An extensive piece from The Center for Public Integrity highlighted how dairy production boomed in Idaho in the 21st century, with much of the heavy labor falling on the backs of the Hispanic immigrant community. Those farmers, many of whom voted for Trump, were deeply concerned. “Many of these workers are probably undocumented, farmers acknowledge, yet they’re the sturdy backbone of a surging industry,” performing labor that nobody else was eager to take on. State estimates suggest that “85 to 90 percent of on-site dairy workers… are foreign-born.”
As the Haitian cat-eating nonsense in Ohio continues to fester, it’s worth noting that this is hardly a new move. In 2016, Breitbart and InfoWars claimed (lied) that Muslim immigrants were perpetrating gang rapes and spreading tuberculosis (but not at the same time, presumably?) in Southern Idaho, stoking xenophobic sentiment throughout the area.
All of this led to Jerome–which had such a successful track record with its immigrant community–engaging in discussions with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to sublet its jail to ICE. The fissures that tore through the community in response remain unhealed to this day, even though the deal with ICE was never finalized. Trust was broken. Sides were formed. Nonetheless, a detente prevailed for the succeeding years, with major employers in the region, most notably Chobani, wielding enough influence to help maintain the status quo.
Until now? This past March, the Idaho House of Representatives passed HB 753, inspired by similar legislation in Texas, which would “allow local law enforcement to detain and potentially deport undocumented immigrants.” The bill includes escalating punishments. The first illegal entry into Idaho would qualify as a misdemeanor; the second would be a felony.
Ultimately, though, this kind of legislation seems to be more about PR and playing to a subsection of their conservative base than actually creating actionable law. Similar bills in Texas and Arizona remain unenforceable, and this is likely to be true in Idaho as well. But the impact on immigrant communities is certainly real, returning them once again to that familiar position of mistrust, the earth shifting beneath their feet.
And at what cost to Idaho? A recent study has once again confirmed that Idaho’s economy is reliant upon its immigrant population–legal or not. Rick Naerebout, the CEO of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, summed up the situation bluntly: “We are dependent on an unauthorized workforce. Who would fill that void if those workers weren’t here available to fill the jobs that other people don’t want?”
