FACT CHECK: Video Of Farmer Saying He Will Lose Crop Due To Immigration Enforcement Is From 2011

A video shared on X claims to show a farmer saying he will lose his cash crop due to immigration enforcement.

This American Farmer is about to lose his half million dollar crop of Sweet Potatoes because he has been hiring illegals. pic.twitter.com/mrYlwnGVug

— Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_The_Dr) February 4, 2025

Verdict: Misleading

The video was likely taken in 2011, not 2025. It is not related to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

Fact Check:

Trump’s increased immigration crackdown has led the federal government to use federal prisons to start holding detained illegal immigrants, according to The Associated Press. (RELATED: Did An Intel Officer Post About Resisting The Trump Administration On Facebook?)

Social media users are claiming to show an American farmer who is going to lose his crop because he was hiring illegal immigrants. One user wrote, “This American Farmer is about to lose his half million dollar crop of Sweet Potatoes because he has been hiring illegals.”

This video, though, predates Trump’s immigration policies. Through a reverse image and keyword search, Check Your Fact found that the video was likely taken in 2011. In 2011, Alabama passed an illegal immigration bill, HB 56, that assigned different kinds of penalties on illegal immigrants.

It features a farmer named Keith Smith, who appeared in a 2011 PBS News video about the same bill. While the original post’s video and the PBS video are not the same (the video in the post is from CBS News), it does appear to be taken from the same time.

Check Your Fact then tracked down the original video, which is from September 2011. It is from a CBS Evening News segment on the bill.