Hundreds of Iowa Meatpacking Employee Visas Revoked

At a July 15 city council meeting in Ottumwa, Iowa, Mayor Rick Johnson announced that JBS — the largest meat processor in the world — was issuing 200 notices to employees from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela that their work visas had been revoked. He said that the company was sending affected employees a letter and would also be meeting with each employee individually, where they would be told that their employment at JBS was over — and that they must get out of the country immediately. The plant employs approximately 2,000 people.

“Keep those people in our prayers and hope that they can get arrangements made,” Johnson said at the council meeting. He told residents that many of these employees have planted roots in Ottumwa, and for many of them, it will not be as easy as packing a bag to leave. “They’ve got houses and family and furnishings and stuff and cars.”

This measure comes in light of the Department of Homeland Security ending Temporary Protected Status for residents of multiple countries. The program aims to provide refuge for citizens from countries where conditions may be too unsafe to return, historically protecting them from deportation. The Trump administration has now changed that, and the Supreme Court upheld the move.

“It is also my understanding that if these employees can’t qualify for another type of exemption, then they are being instructed to leave the U.S. immediately,” Johnson wrote to Sentient in an email.

Immigration raids on meatpacking facilities and farms have increased under the Trump administration. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, documented 32,809 enforcement arrests during Trump’s first 50 days in office. Since June, Trump has paused, then un-paused, immigration raids on agricultural facilities. Approximately 42 percent of meatpacking workers are immigrants.

In 2024, a JBS plant in Colorado was accused of human trafficking workers from Haiti and Benin. Although a U.S. firm owned by JBS made the single biggest donation to Trump’s inaugural campaign, the corporation is not immune to the effects of his policies.

Sentient reached out to JBS for comment and has not heard back.