Here are the morning’s top stories on Thursday, January 30, 2025…
- During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed to launch what he called “the largest deportation program in American history,” targeting more than 11 million people. While many question the president’s ability to make good on that promise, the prospect has California’s grape growers and vintners on edge.
- In a new executive order, President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to revise its policies toward transgender service members, saying they do not meet the standards of military service.
Trump’s Promise Of Mass Deportations Looms Over California’s Wine Industry
During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed to launch what he called “the largest deportation program in American history,” targeting more than 11 million people. While many question the president’s ability to make good on that promise, the prospect has California’s grape growers and vintners on edge.
A recent U.S. Department of Labor survey estimates that undocumented immigrants make up 51% of the state’s agricultural workforce. At a time when wine sales are lagging, experts agree that mass deportations would have a devastating impact on the industry.
“Hired farm workers seem to be more scarce every year,” said Daniel Sumner, a professor of agricultural economics at UC Davis. “There’s relatively little replacement of young people coming into farm work, which used to be refreshed with new immigrants every year or so, and that’s been more of a struggle.”
Sumner said that’s because Mexico’s economy has improved in recent years, making it less attractive for workers to cross the border. Meanwhile, Americans just aren’t interested in filling the void. Hiring undocumented immigrants isn’t the only way for vineyard owners to find workers. There’s also the H2A visa, which allows agricultural employers to hire temporary laborers from outside the country. But, Sumner said, the program isn’t simple—or cheap. “It’s a very expensive program, H2A is, to participate in,” Sumner says. “It’s supervised by the government, so there’s reams of bureaucracy to go through to recruit the workers into the program.”
Trump Moves To Again Ban Trans People From Military Services
A new executive order from President Donald Trump ordering the Pentagon to again ban transgender people from military service was met with its first legal challenge Tuesday.