Last week there was some hopeful communication from Washington, D.C., for our agricultural communities in southeast Idaho. 

In a video-taped message, reported by the Idaho Falls Post Register on Nov. 14, U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, spoke about farm labor needs to southeast Idaho dairymen and farmers who gathered in Idaho Falls to discuss agricultural labor shortages in Idaho. 

……….The Farm Workforce Modernization Act (H.R. 3227) was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives on May 7, 2025. The bill has not been voted on as of Nov. 15, 2025. 

This bill is a positive step forward for those involved in agriculture both because of its substance and the process it will create. Rep. Simpson said in his video-taped message that passing this bill is currently one of his most important goals. 

A little background: In 2022, the USDA commissioned a study to understand the problems within the H-2A system from the perspectives of employers and employees. The United Farmworkers were contracted to do this research, and they subsequently came out in support of H.R. 3227 when it was submitted to the House on May 7, 2025.

POCATELLO — The sagebrush steppe land that covers the hills around Pocatello and many parts of the Western U.S. is a beautiful, diverse landscape; it is also shrinking at a rapid rate due to drought associated with climate change, overgrazing by cattle and increasingly intense wildfires. Cheatgrass and other invasive species fuel wildfires that damage habitats and human-built structures. 

The Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust has teamed up with the Idaho Goat Grazers to test an age-old, organic method of weed control — grazing goats. 

Currently, refugees, workers and others who have come to Idaho from other countries are at increased risk of detention and deportation, even if they came to the US through legal means of entry.

ICE raids and the too frequent reports of individuals being deported signals a dangerous situation for many individuals living in the US. These individuals have come to the US through legal immigration programs that may now be expired, or they may have arrived here without authorization.  Sometimes they arrived as young children.  

This approach to immigration control is fueled by 1) federal quota mandates for immigration arrests, 2) depriving refugees of their protected rights and 3) by a rapidly expanding system of detention that involves all of us, even down to the county levels in places like Idaho and Wyoming.

Of all the issues surrounding the Ukraine-Russia conflict, one really stands out for me—the thousands of children who have been abducted by Russian troops and sent to re-education camps and adoptive families all over Russia. There are currently 19,546 cases on file of abducted children. These children are being forcibly held in Russia and they are not able to contact their families back in Ukraine.

Over the last couple of months, funding for AmeriCorps and Vista programs has been drastically cut in Idaho and in the rest of the United States. These funding cuts have an immediate impact on the lives of those individuals who relied on AmeriCorps positions to help pay the bills. Beyond the immediate chaos that this defunding has created, eliminating AmeriCorps and Vista will impoverish our communities in many ways, well into the future.

We will be celebrating World Refugee Day 2025 on June 20^th in Pocatello and other communities around Idaho and the world, a day to  “honor the strength and courage of people’’ forced to flee their homelands. There will be music, dancing and delicious food from the over 20 countries representing our local, Idaho-based refugees and immigrants. 

What a stark contrast that idea is, with what is currently happening in the US with respect to refugees, immigrants and visitors to our country.