Northeast Adams County, Pennsylvania embraces legal migrants in the midst of illegal aliens entering the country.
The orchard industry dominates York Springs, Pennsylvania. For years, the borough has relied on legal migrant workers to keep orchards running, and census data shows that Latinos now make up half the population of the borough.
Black and Hispanic migrant workers work at orchards all over northeast Adams County, which has led to Pennsylvania’s status as the fourth-highest apple producing region in the country.
“I understand that in some areas people see different things,” said Nina Tipler, long-time resident and mayor of York Springs, in a recent interview. “We do not see that here. People want to come here and work hard and earn money and do what they have to do. They don’t bother anybody. They work, they shop, they feed themselves and move on.”
York Springs, and many other communities, rely on the influx of migrant workers to sustain their economies. Tipler said, “I believe that all immigrants that come here legally are welcome and I hope that people understand that without these people coming into our country we would not be able to take care of the people born here.”
120 farms and 20,000 acres across the county make up the Adams County fruit belt. The area returns about $580 million to the county’s economy each year.
In a recent interview, fourth-generation apple farmer Sarah Lott Zost of York Springs said, “If we did not have this reliable workforce, this all would be gone.”
