Michigan Pork Plant Could Lose 400 Workers After Trump Decision to End Haitian Protected Status
Clemens Food Group’s Coldwater, Mich., pork processing plant could lose as many as 400 employees later this summer as a result of President Donald J. Trump revoking the Temporary Protected Status for about half a million Haitians in the U.S., which goes into effect in August of this year, according to local news reports.
The Coldwater plant employs a total of nearly 1,700 workers and is the county’s largest employer. The approximately 400 Haitian workers are here legally after the U.S. granted Haitian Temporary Protection Status due to the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, the civil unrest after the country’s November 2016 election and the assassination of its president in 2021. Temporary Protected Status allows foreigners to be in the country legally but does not provide an official long-term path toward citizenship.
There are more than 80 categories that allow for legal status, the news report said, and some Haitians hold H-2A visas, which allow for the hiring of foreign labor when domestic workers aren't available or interested in open jobs.
The plant’s general manager, Joe Hughes, told the local news outlet that he attended a Michigan Immigration Rights Center presentation at the local community center, saying that they simply don’t know what’s going to happen next, but that the company was working with every immigrant employee on visa status to determine their needs and their options.
He told the news outlet that if he missed work, there wouldn’t be as much impact, saying, “if team members who are working [on the line] don’t show up, then product doesn’t get made. Customers don’t get their product.”
If the approximately 400 Haitian workers lost their legal status, it would have a tremendous impact on the facility’s ability to operate. He also praised the workers, saying they were responsible workers and assets to Clemens Food Group and the community, trying to assimilate to American culture.
Longer term, losing these workers could impact a $150 million planned expansion at its Newton Road plant that is expected to add as many as 400 workers by fall 2026, the report said.
