One Ohio town’s immigration clash, down in the actual muck

Labor shortage threatens supply

WILLARD, Ohio — Migrant workers arrive here every spring to work in the “muck,” which is what everybody calls the fertile soil that makes this part of Ohio the perfect place to grow radishes, peppers, cucumbers and leafy greens. The temporary workers can be seen planting, weeding and, later in the season, harvesting crops that will be sold at national supermarket chains.

But there is trouble in the muck this growing season.

The first sign of discontent came earlier in the year, when the Willard Area Chamber of Commerce was planning a welcome-back party for the migrants, most of whom come from Mexico and other countries farther south. Vendors were to sell food and drink. A soccer tournament, rides and singers were to entertain the crowd. At the chamber’s February meeting, everyone seemed on board.

“Our community is very fortunate we have a group of people who come here every year to work,” Cari Mclendon, the chamber president, said. “We all ramp up for the season.”

But after a local newspaper published an article about the event in March, a far less welcoming response emerged, one rooted in the vigorous national debate over illegal immigration that brought President Donald Trump to office. Some Willard residents complained that Hispanic workers did not deserve any special treatment, and that those without papers ought to be met not with open arms, but rather with handcuffs. Daniel Young, a Vietnam War veteran, wrote a letter to the editor of The Norwalk Reflector saying that he and others “are still waiting on our welcome-home party.”

By the April chamber meeting, enthusiasm for the party had waned as the controversy grew and local

PHOTOS BY FABRIZIO COSTANTINI / THE NEW YORK TIMES Daniel Young is one of the Willard-area residents who complained that Hispanic migrant farm workers were getting special treatment. Young was angered by plans to host a welcome back party for the seasonal migrants upon whom so many local farms relied;...

Romeo Perez makes traditional Mexican sweets in his bakery in Willard, Ohio. For years, growers around Willard have been dependent on seasonal migrant laborers to do the work locals shy away from, but hostility has increasingly driven them away....