Disinfo on the Range: The Truth Behind Nebraska’s Ranching Crisis

THE AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY IGNORED THE WARNING SIGNS

A wave of dramatic online videos and viral commentary has emerged claiming that Nebraska’s cattle ranchers are being “bankrupted” by the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies. These videos blame strict immigration laws and portray the ranchers as innocent victims. But the truth is far more complex—and far less flattering to both the ranchers and their elected representatives.

At the heart of the issue is not just a policy change, but a long-standing pattern of illegal labor practices that Nebraska’s leadership has done little to address. The current crisis was not unforeseen. It was avoidable. And in many ways, it was enabled—passively or otherwise—by state and federal inaction.

A Quiet and Profitable Dependence on Illegal Labor

For years, many Nebraska ranchers have relied on undocumented migrant labor. It’s no secret within the industry. The use of illegal labor allowed ranchers to cut costs by skirting federal regulations—no formal wages, no benefits, no compliance with guest worker program standards like housing and transportation. In effect, this was a business model dependent on risk-free illegality, made possible by lax enforcement and political silence.

Federal laws prohibiting the employment of undocumented workers have been on the books for decades. The H-2A program—which allows for the legal employment of seasonal and year-round foreign agricultural workers—has existed as a clear and usable framework. Yet, ranchers widely ignored it, citing paperwork burdens and costs, while opting instead to employ unauthorized laborers off the record.

NOTE: THIS VIDEO IS FROM 5 YEARS AGO. NEBRASKA FARM BANKRUPTCIES WERE ALREADY MOVING?!

Representatives: Complicit Through Inaction

Despite this well-known pattern, Nebraska’s federal delegation—Senators Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts, and Representatives Mike Flood, Don Bacon, and Adrian Smith—have done little to address the underlying problem. While some of them occasionally mention “labor shortages” in agriculture, none have launched or championed any serious initiative to transition Nebraska’s ranching industry toward legal compliance.

There has been:

• No sustained push to simplify or expand the H-2A program for ranchers.

• No public campaign to educate agricultural employers about compliance or the risks of continuing with undocumented labor.

• No effort to secure state-federal partnerships or waivers that could ease the legal transition for ranchers.

• No legislation introduced to phase out illegal hiring while providing incentives or support for lawful labor programs.

This collective silence has not only failed to prevent the current crisis—it may have exacerbated it. By doing little to nothing, these representatives allowed ranchers to drift into a trap of their own making. They ignored the gathering storm and failed their constituents by not preparing them for the obvious policy shifts that would come under tighter immigration enforcement.

A Misleading Blame Game

The viral videos now dominating social media are not journalism—they are narrative manipulation. They ignore the fact that the labor crisis was a foreseeable outcome of knowingly illegal practices. Instead, these productions blame federal immigration enforcement, attempting to cast a law-abiding administration as the villain.

But when elected officials, employers, and media voices refuse to acknowledge long-standing violations of law, they are not engaging in truth—they are crafting propaganda.

TIS WAS A MONTH AGO. IT IS A FAR CRY FROM THE VIRAL VIDEOS AND THIS IS PBS!

What Could Have Been Done—and Still Can Be

Even now, options remain on the table for ranchers willing to operate legally:

• Use the H-2A visa system for livestock handling roles.

• Form labor co-operatives to offset housing and wage costs.

• Partner with veterans’ programs or domestic workforces for temporary labor.

• Seek temporary waivers, subsidies, or legal transition programs—if pushed for by elected officials.

But for any of that to happen, Nebraska’s congressional delegation must abandon passive complicity. They must take responsibility—not just for lawmaking, but for law-enforcing. It’s time they stopped shielding bad practices and started enabling better ones.

Conclusion

The cattle crisis in Nebraska is not a story of rural Americans blindsided by Washington. It is a cautionary tale of what happens when a powerful industry knowingly flouts federal labor law—and when its elected representatives choose silence over solutions.

Until that changes, these viral videos will remain what they are: manufactured outrage built on a foundation of long-standing neglect.