Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley earlier this month tweeted a photo of himself holding a dish of food at a luncheon he said he hosted. “Pork chop potatoes green beans apple crisp & of course ice cream,” he wrote, boasting that senators were “getting a treat 2day for lunch” because of him (also, what’s the deal with his spelling technique?).

I have no doubt Grassley hosted this lunch. Nevertheless, an advocate had an important reminder about some people that went unthanked in Chuck’s tweet—but sure did a whole lot of the work in helping get that plate into his hands.

“Pretty sure most of that food came from immigrant farm workers,” Immigration Hub chief political and communications officer Beatriz Lopez tweeted at Grassley. And that’s long been in the case in farming and meatpacking states like Iowa. 

“In a report from the National Immigration Forum, 70% of the farming workforce is made up of undocumented immigrants, and their contribution to the fruit and vegetable industry is worth nine billion dollars,” Iowa Starting Line reported in 2021. “Six thousand migrant workers come to Iowa on a yearly basis to support the industry.”

Iowa is in fact the site of one of the most devastating immigration raids in American history. The Bush administration’s Postville raid  in 2008 “led to hundreds of deportations, untold numbers of separated families, and one devastated community,” America’s Voice noted in May 2013.

During the five-year anniversary commemoration that year, Iowans attempted to deliver a letter to Grassley, “rallying in support of immigration reform, and asking people to never forget the lessons of Postville.” But Grassley would vote against a comprehensive immigration reform package that passed the Senate by a wide bipartisan margin just weeks later. 

Now in 2021, nearly 2022, Grassley is still enjoying the fruits of immigrant labor while denying these essential workers their deserved relief. Hypocrite? Yes. But also shameless. “Wanna be a great host?” Lopez continued. “Stop blocking immigration reform, deliver protections instead.”