Immigrants are being rounded up in Hawaii's coffee fields and being treated worse than 'cats and dogs,' locals say

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

Monday 19 May 2025 17:13 BST


Donald Trump’s war on immigration has impacted all corners of the U.S., but now, immigration officials have targeted an isolated patch on Hawaii’s Big Island. "Even cats and dogs have rights here and in the United States, and they're being treated better than some of our community members here," Armando Rodriguez, owner of Aloha Star Coffee Farms, told local station KITV.

According to several reports, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been targeting immigrant workers who harvest coffee in the district of South Kona. Coffee farming is lucrative in this area due to the nutrient-heavy volcanic slopes of Earth’s largest volcano, Mauna Loa.

Armando and Karina Rodrigues, founders of Aloha Star Coffee Farms in Hawaii, launched their initiative “Aloha Latinos Hawaii” to support Latin Americans looking for farming work in Hawaii, provide the opportunity to connect with other Latinos. Yet, ICE agents have reportedly been conducting raids on the island in search of undocumented migrants since February, reports The New York Times.

It is unclear how many arrests have been made in the region. The Independent contacted ICE for comment.

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/immigrants-hawaii-coffee-farms-ice-b2753911.html

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I was wondering when I saw the article headline, how there were enough Latinos there to raise Gestapo alarms as I expect the vast majority of immigrants there are Asian (i.e., Japanese) or Pacific Islanders (e.g., from Tonga, Fiji, etc). But then they might be coming from South American countries that grow coffee and may have some experience with that.

[Cheezoholic]

1. Any millionaire coffee crop owners on that list? n/t

[Nigrum Cattus]

2. There are many more Philippinoes than P.I.'s

[Martin Eden]

3. What heinous crimes did these workers commit?

Going after agricultural workers should be the lowest priority, one would think.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. "What heinous crimes did these workers commit?"

They are the "wrong color".

[Martin Eden]

5. Bad choice on their part, being born to their parents.

Are US citizens clamoring to fill the jobs becoming available with deportations of undocumented immigrants?

[BumRushDaShow]

6. "Are US citizens clamoring to fill the jobs becoming available with deportations of undocumented immigrants?"

They will soon find out but I expect someone is going to use a loophole in the Constitution to take care of that -

Amendment XIII

Section 1.

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.


https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiii

Over the decades, many a Congress have debated a "fix" for that but haven't been able to and figured that no one would broach this anyway. However we now have an administration who could easily "empty the prisons and put them into the fields", without hesitation AND with legal authority to do so.

[Martin Eden]

7. Prisons are profitable. Slave labor will be filled with political dissidents.

Criticizing and defying Dear Leader is treason.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. That adds to the potential "workforce" as they would be labeled as "convicted criminals"

But when it comes to "profits" - they will still get paid because they will "house" the "workers".

[Martin Eden]

9. Profits from the slave labor camps will be in addition to the current prison pop

American fascism is a collaboration between the regime and the oligarchy.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. They still need that "free labor" current prison population

as well - notably to help build all those towers and golf courses with 45's name on them.

[Martin Eden]

12. Perhaps they will help build the Gaza Riviera

After the Palestinian population has been cleansed. Lots of money to be made.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. That was the first thing that came to mind

along with that complex in Serbia as well as the latest "offer" from Vietnam.

[Mysterian]

11. I wonder why the Midwest slaughterhouses aren't being raided

Surely it has nothing to do with it being red states.