Opinion: Lowering beef prices requires curtailing ICE activity in Kansas and elsewhere

Dodge City protesters gather at Wright Park on Sept. 25, 2026, to march to U.S. Rep. Tracey Mann's office. They were protesting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions in the community. (Photo by Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector)

For the past five years, lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have been trying to lower prices, but every piece of data shows that families are being pushed to the limit by the cost of living. President Donald Trump’s administration has paid particular attention to lowering the price of beef, which has shot up more than 20% since he took office.

In August, his administration unveiled a plan to import more than 660 million pounds of ground beef, which farmers, ranchers, and even his closest allies rightly criticized. Prices have still not fallen. If Trump really wants to lower beef prices, he must stop the mass deportation agenda.

In September, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement showed up here in Kansas and swarmed small towns in the “Golden Triangle of Meatpacking,” where the communities of Dodge City, Liberal, and Garden City produce a fifth of the nation’s beef supply. At UFCW Local 2, we represent three of the four plants in the Golden Triangle of Meatpacking. During ICE’s operations, U.S. citizens were pulled on their way home from work by agents demanding papers, leaving them shaking and crying.

Families took their kids out of school as unmarked cars roamed, driving erratically in the chaos. Fear led hundreds of meatpacking workers to stay home, and the area’s four meatpacking plants were forced to slash production because of the chaos ICE agents brought with them.

It’s no secret that immigrant workers play a crucial role in America’s food supply chain, as they have for decades. When I meet with our UFCW members in southwest Kansas, I see essential workers who were there when our country needed them most during the COVID-19 pandemic. I see workers who work here legally and have been afraid to go to work after all the violence and racial profiling. They are being terrorized both at home and at work by inhumane enforcement, detention, and deportation policies.

But the effect ripples outside of Kansas. The major disruptions to beef production in our state will show up in higher prices for all Americans.

The UFCW is not the only group raising alarms. The Texas Cattle Feeders Association, Kansas Livestock Association and Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association have also spoken out, noting: “These ICE operations are having a massive chilling effect on the legal, documented, skilled workers that put beef on the table and keep the cattle supply chain moving.”

The entire meat industry knows the ramifications of this.

A report from the immigration group, America’s Voice already found that prices of items that required more immigrant labor outpaced inflation. Lettuce up 32.1%, canned fruit rose 7.9%, whole milk up 9%, and the list goes on.

Our nation’s beef, pork, and chicken supply is next if this cruel campaign continues. Production will slow, supply will fall, and prices will rise. It’s estimated that mass deportations could raise prices by 9.1% by 2028, at a time when working people are already struggling with record-high food costs.

Kansans, whether they’re buying beef at the store or working in a packing plant, deserve better.

In cities where ICE arrests increased fastest in 2025, data show that for every arrest made, four jobs were lost. Bringing these operations to small cities and rural communities like ours will cause even more disruptions than what we saw in the streets of major cities over the past 18 months.

A recent report from the AFL-CIO found that if the mass deportation plans being executed by the Trump administration continue, nearly 6 million jobs, nearly half of which are currently held by U.S. citizens, could be wiped out. These would be fundamental changes to our communities and our economy.

Workers are missing out on paychecks, farmers and ranchers are losing millions in lost revenue, and shoppers are paying higher prices. Since the sheer cruelty and inhumanity have not been enough to change immigration policy, perhaps the impact on food prices could be the wake-up call.

We need real immigration reform, but the president has to stop hobbling our food supply chain and put an end to the mass deportation madness.