The crackdown on illegal immigration under President Donald Trump has left the farming industry uncertain about whether it will be able to depend on migrant labor in the future.

For years, farmers across the country have hired migrant workers to do the more physical labor. These foreign individuals are legally admitted into the United States for specific, temporary purposes on what’s called an H-2A visa, intended primarily for seasonal agricultural work.

Kercher’s Sunrise Orchards near Goshen, Indiana has provided its community with locally grown produce for almost 100 years.

The family-owned business grows, packs and ships specialty crops ranging from peaches to peppers on a 600-acre farm. With so much produce to tend, the family of three needs outside help to get the work done.

“It’s all hand-picked,” said co-owner Maureen Kercher. “The actual harvesting takes a good 25 people, and then the packing and shipping takes about 50.”

Outside help is necessary for the business’ survival, but maintaining that help year after year is a growing concern. The lack of local interest in field work has left Hoosier farmers with limited options for hiring help.

“It’s a constant worry,” she said. “It’s an ongoing problem.”

In order to make up for the lack of local laborers, Kercher said they have always hired migrant workers to fill their needs, many of whom come back every year.

“It’s kind of a fear of the unknown,” Kercher said. “There’s a definite stress there for them and for us. Our crops are so time sensitive to get them out of the field, and get them packed and sold. We just can’t all of a sudden have 25 people gone for some reason.”

The president’s hard-line approach to illegal immigration and increased arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have left immigrants of all kinds walking on eggshells.

Immigration lawyer Thomas Ruge said to enter the country as a temporary worker, job seekers must fill out an I-9 form documenting they have authorization to work.

In turn, farmers must prove they are unable to recruit American workers and need outside help.

Farmers have to fill out petitions to the Department of Labor and visa requests with U.S. Immigration Services. For some, the process can be costly and farmers may not even get the number of workers they need.

Ruge said when he explains this process to farmers, they often give up.

“They just throw up their hands and say, ‘It’s too complicated, I’m not sure how I’m going to get what I want,’ and they don’t do it,” he said.

But the need for able bodies willing to do the work remains.

Howell Farms, headquartered in Middletown, Indiana grows tomatoes and pumpkins on a 1,000-acre farm. Co-owner Adam Howell estimates that 70 percent of his employees at the peak of harvest season are migrant workers.

“A lot of what we do with the vegetables still requires a lot of hand labor,” Howell said. “The migrant labor group is the most willing and able to do a lot of that work.”

Even though his farm hires documented workers, Howell said, he has sensed a feeling of uneasiness among them.

“We have noticed a difference among people that were in the country already,” he said. “I think a little bit of hesitancy to move around the country and go to where the work is seasonally.”

Howell said he wishes Howell Farms could hire local help.

“There’s plenty of people locally, but as long as they can qualify for support and not have to work, they’re not going to,” he said.

Howell, like Kercher, is concerned about securing workers in the years to come.

“Right now we think that we’ll be able to get the labor that we need for harvest,” Howell said. “But it’s always in the back of my mind.”

Mace Thornton, spokesperson for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said the need for agricultural labor reform is clear.

“Farmers need access to legal and stable temporary workers,” Thornton said. “The bottom line is that when it comes to agriculture, America can either import our labor or import our food.”

Kercher agreed, and said that the supply of legal labor coming into the country to compensate for the lack of local help is an issue that needs to be fixed.

“It needs to be resolved in an equitable fashion,” she said. “There’s no quick fix to this. We want to secure our borders, but we need workers, too.”

Stanbombe writes for the Indiana Media Group.