“Most of us do Laborists that Americans do not want to do,” said the man, who asked not to be appointed because he is undocumented and fears being deported. “I don’t know if Trump doesn’t understand or see that this country also depends on us.”
About 643 million pounds of fungi, approximately the weight of a skyscraper -The 2023-24 season were sold, with Pennsylvania representing 69% of the volume of sales, followed by California with 11%, according to data from the United States Department of Agriculture. The value of this crop throughout the country was estimated at $ 1 billion, according to the USDA.
In Chester County, where Avondale is, fungal farmers produced almost 200 million pounds of fungi, according to USDA, a 29% decrease compared to the previous year. The county has a growth area of 11.1 million square feet.
“Migrant work is a necessity in agriculture, there is simply yes or not,” said the owner of the farm, adding that if deportation efforts focused on immigrants in the area, “I would be diezing” for the industry. Some fungal collectors have been with him for more than 33 years and have never caused any problems, he added.
The second Trump administration brings a new round of fear
Noreydi, a 17 -year -old asylum applicant from Guatemala and an agricultural fungal worker in the area, arrived in the United States during Trump’s first mandate, when he was among the thousands of children separated from their parents under the family separation policy of the administration.
“He was the president when I entered and now he is the president. Where things are going, he is so scary, and he simply terrifies me,” said Noreydi, who asked that his full name is not used because the Trump administration has also been stopping and deporting people with open immigration cases like her.
