Immigration crackdown disrupts a major U.S. beef-processing hub
Federal immigration enforcement in southwest Kansas is disrupting meatpacking operations in one of the country’s most important beef-processing regions. Reuters reports that heightened ICE activity around Dodge City, Garden City, and Liberal prompted widespread worker absences and plant slowdowns. USDA data showed fed-cattle slaughter falling nearly 16% on September 24 compared with a week earlier.
The three cities form Kansas’s so-called “Golden Triangle,” where plants operated by Cargill, Tyson Foods and National Beef have combined capacity of roughly 24,000 cattle a day — more than 20% of U.S. daily fed-cattle slaughter capacity. The Kansas Livestock Association, Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association and Texas Cattle Feeders Association say thousands of cattle have been delayed going to processors, costing producers millions of dollars and disrupting feedyards, dairies, transportation and other parts of the supply chain. The groups say the enforcement activity is also having a “massive chilling effect” on legal and documented workers.
DHS says ICE is not conducting worksite raids and that agents are targeting people wanted for criminal offenses or removal. But the disruption comes at an unusually vulnerable moment: the U.S. cattle herd is already at its smallest in roughly 75 years and beef prices are near record highs. Industry groups warn that prolonged processing bottlenecks could further increase costs for ranchers and consumers — complicating the Trump administration’s separate efforts to increase beef supplies and bring retail prices down.
