Undocumented Immigrants are the Backbone of Texas Agriculture. An Abbott-Endorsed Agriculture Commissioner Candidate Wants to Change That.

By Max Mazoch

Photography By Max Mazoch

Reporting Texas

Immigration raids have caused unrest in Texas agriculture, the state’s second largest industry. Now, Gov. Greg Abbott’s preferred candidate for agriculture commissioner, the chief advocate for the state’s 230,000 farms, has made stricter immigration enforcement a key tenet of his campaign.

“If I was king for a day, and I got to go in and make a decision,” Republican candidate for ag commissioner Nate Sheets said recently at the University of Texas. “Number one, I would close the border.”

Sheets, who did not respond to interview requests about his campaign to unseat incumbent and fellow Republican Sid Miller, said he supports a statewide E-Verify mandate for private businesses to ensure that everyone working in Texas has legal immigration status.

E-Verify is a web-based system designed to quickly check the work status of a potential employee. Sheets said the system would help agriculture businesses ensure their employees are legally allowed to work in the United States, preventing cases where Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids leave farms without workers. Undocumented immigrants make up 42% of the United States agriculture labor force, according to a United States Department of Agriculture study, so experts suggest the plan is unworkable. But Sheets said the benefits will outweigh the risks.

“It can bring continuity in my agricultural business,” Sheets said. “It’s a great box to check to know I don’t have to worry about raids.”

However, while strict immigration enforcement is a favorite MAGA policy, the Republican-led Texas legislature has failed to pass laws requiring E-Verify checks for the last decade. Experts say Republican opposition to those bills is rooted in concerns of a labor shortage and their potential economic harm, according to Texas Tribune reports.

Lloyd Potter, the Texas state demographer, said E-Verify would “hit agriculture really hard.”

Preventing farmers from hiring undocumented workers would likely create a labor shortage and cause production to slow, he said.

Blue-collar industries, like agriculture, have low wages and unfavorable work conditions which deter many American workers, Potter said. Increasing wages could be a way to attract American workers, but might make it difficult for farms to turn a profit.

“Some farms do well, but others are on the edge,” Potter said. “One storm or environmental situation can ruin a significant portion of their crop and they’re in bad shape.”

The number of potential workers lost is also a concern.

Undocumented immigrants made up 9% of Texas’ labor force, according to a 2023 Pew Research Center study. Potter said “it’s not likely” to find enough U.S. citizens to fill those job vacancies even if wage and working conditions were more favorable.

Miller has not made immigration a key part of his re-election campaign.

In 2025, Miller said fear of ICE raids had caused undocumented farm workers to “stop showing up to work.” Sheets has criticized Miller’s past support for in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants while the commissioner was a state representative.

Ben Meccini, a public affairs major at the University of Texas, volunteers with small-scale farmers he meets at local farmer’s markets. He attended Sheets’ forum at UT to learn more about Miller’s challenger.

“I think there’s parts of what he’s saying that are just rhetoric,” Meccini said. “Then there’s parts that have a kernel of truth that can really help people.”

Meccini said Sheets “weaved around” the harm deportations could cause the agriculture industry, but appreciated his idea to authorize health savings accounts for use at farmers markets.

On Jan. 21, Abbott endorsed the first-time political candidate Sheets, who looks to enter public office after selling his honey company and stepping down as its CEO.

Some observers were surprised to see Abbott split with Miller, whose white cowboy hat had become a mainstay in Texas politics during his three terms as Texas agriculture commissioner and over a decade spent as a state representative.

In a statement, Abbott’s campaign manager Kim Snyder said Miller’s “history of corruption” played a role in Sheets’ endorsement. Last year, Miller hired his political consultant Todd Smith as the agency’s chief of staff, who in 2024, pleaded guilty to commercial bribery for accepting money in exchange for hemp licences issued by Miller’s office, the Texas Tribune reports.

It’s possible Abbott is “interested in making sure that he separates himself from any possible allegations of corruption,” said Daron Shaw, University of Texas government professor.

Abbott has yet to make endorsements in other races, such as the Republican primary for U.S. Senate despite candidate Ken Paxton’s scandal-plagued tenure as Texas attorney general, Shaw said.

Shaw said the “anti-establishment reform” that’s increasingly driving American politics could also be behind Abbott’s thinking.

“I think the Abbott people are well aware of that, and they don’t want to be on the wrong side where they are seen as being the status quo,” Shaw said.

But Abbott’s endorsement didn’t shift momentum in the race the way some might have  expected.

Miller, a Trump loyalist once considered to run his U.S. Department of Agriculture, leads Sheets by 30 percentage points, according to a University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs poll

Sheets, though, holds a fund raising advantage with $373,235 cash in hand compared with Miller’s $102,525,  according to a recent Texas Tribune report.

The Republican primary winner will face the Democratic challenger Clayton Tucker, a rancher and member of the Texas Progressive Caucus, who has $45,130 cash in hand, according to the same Texas Tribune report.