A Republican farmer is begging the Trump administration to cease its anti-immigrant operations as his business faces a massive worker shortage fueled by the ICE raids taking place around the country.

Shay Myers, the general manager of Idaho’s Owyhee Produce, told ABC News the farm relies on immigrant workers, most of whom come from Mexico on seasonal work visas.

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“Because I am a conservative and a Republican, people assume that I would have a different perspective here,” Myers said, “and this is my reality.”

“I love these people. I love the culture. I love the effort that they make. And ethically, to continue to not fix this problem is absolutely completely wrong. The ethics are wrong. We as Americans try to do the right thing. Let’s do the right thing.”

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Mauricio Sol, one of the farm’s seasonal workers, said that the business is not getting many applications despite the process being legal, all due to the fear stoked by the administration.

“People is afraid that even when they are legally here, they’re getting arrested for no reason,” Sol said.

Myers also said hiring Americans is not an option.

“We would love to hire people from here. The reality is that we can’t find the numbers of people here. We’re in a rural area, number one. Number two: This is hard work. It is difficult work, and there are lots of people that are not willing to do it.”

The story cited a recent report from the Department of Labor, which explained that Myers’ struggles are happening on a macro level, too.

“The near total cessation of the inflow of illegal aliens combined with the lack of an available legal workforce, results in significant disruptions to production costs and threatening the stability of domestic food production and prices for U.S consumers,” it said. “Unless the Department acts immediately to provide a source of stable and lawful labor, this threat will grow as the tools Congress provided in H.R. 1, One Big Beautiful Bill Act, to enhance enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws are deployed.”

The report emphasized the risk of food shortages and said “immediate action” is needed “to provide agricultural employers with a viable workforce alternative while concurrently averting imminent economic harm.”

James O’Neill, director of legislative affairs for the American Business Immigration Coalition, added that about 50-60% of the farm labor force is undocumented immigrants.

As such, the mass deportations are affecting all of us.

“If we were to deport them all overnight, then that’s 60% of the workforce, meaning that’s 60% of the supply that’s not being met, without a shift in demand, and I think anybody that understands economics knows that that means higher prices for them at the grocery store.”

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