Tyson Foods, a major American producer of meat, is facing boycott calls after its Human Resources associate director Garrett Dolan told Bloomberg, “We would like to employ another 42,000 [migrants] if we could find them,” during an interview about the firm’s involvement in the Tent Partnership for Refugees program founded by Chobani. Tent is led by Obama-era White House staffer Gideon Maltz.
The firm insists on its website that recent media coverage on the matter is “misinformation,” adding, “Tyson Foods is strongly opposed to illegal immigration, and we led the way in participating in the two major government programs to help employers combat unlawful employment, E-Verify and the Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers (IMAGE) program.”
But the distinction appears to be mostly semantics, with Tyson actually relying on the Biden government’s fast-tracking of employment authorizations for millions of people in the country illegally. The Trump administration had previously suspended such authorizations. In April last year alone, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said they were processing 535,764 pending authorization petitions, also known as Employment Authorization Documents (EADs). The move to relax restrictions on these was one of the first things the Biden government and its Attorney General Merrick Garland did after taking office.
Moreover, Tyson already employs 42,000 immigrants amongst its 120,000-strong labor force, further undercutting their claims to have been the subject of “misinformation.”
America First Legal, a Trump-world advocacy group, latched on to the discriminatory statement made by Dolan, stating: “It is ILLEGAL under federal law to discriminate against American citizens based on their citizenship in favor of non-citizens of any kind when it comes to employment.”
The meat firm also invests cash into legal aid services for their migrant employees, provides them paid time off for any court appearances, as well as childcare and transportation, and English classes.
“They’re very, very loyal,” Dolan said. “They’ve been uprooted and what they want is stability — what they want is a sense of belonging.” It is unclear if Dolan is suggesting that U.S. workers are disloyal, do not want stability, nor a sense of belonging.
