HOUSTON — Before there were statistics, there was supper. There were tamales wrapped in family kitchens, Vietnamese pho simmering in strip malls, Nigerian jollof rice served at community gatherings, and generations of immigrants who arrived in Texas carrying recipes, traditions and dreams alongside their luggage.
“All God’s people came to Houston, and they brought their food with them,” Steve Kean, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership, told a packed room gathered at Amegy Bank on May 21.
The line drew smiles, but it also captured the central message of a new report from the American Immigration Council: the people who help feed Texas are the same people bearing the brunt of the Trump Administration’s mass deportation campaign.
Released during the forum From Field to Fork: The Economic Impact of Immigrants on Texas’ Food Industry, the report found that immigrants make up nearly one-quarter of Texas’ food-sector workforce—more than 400,500 workers spread across farms, food-processing plants, warehouses, grocery stores and restaurants.
Together, those industries generated $102.6 billion in economic output in 2024, helping sustain one of the largest food economies in the nation.
The event opened with remarks from David Stevenson, president of Amegy Bank, and J. Michael Treviño of the American Immigration Council.
Chelsie Kramer, the organization’s Texas state organizer, presented the report’s findings before a panel of business and civic leaders, including Steve Kean of the Greater Houston Partnership; Mike Shine of the Greater Houston Chapter of the Texas Restaurant Association; Kelle Kieschnick of the Texas Business Leadership Council; Dr. Anne McBride of the James Beard Foundation; Catarina Bill of the Southern Smoke Foundation; and immigration attorney Jacob M. Monty. Moderating the discussion was AIC Executive Director Jeremy Robbins.
The report’s data tell the story:
Immigrants account for 22.9% of Texas agricultural workers, 33.8% of food-processing employees and 25.7% of food-service workers. More than 53,000 immigrants work in food processing, while nearly 242,000 work in restaurants and food service. Texas exports $6.5 billion in agricultural commodities annually, and much of that system depends on immigrant labor.
For Houston, where immigrants account for more than one-third of the region’s food-sector workforce—and more than half of all cooks in the metropolitan area—the connection between immigration and food is impossible to ignore. Their labor touches nearly every step of the food supply chain.
According to the report, approximately 233,100 workers in Texas’ food sector are undocumented, representing 14.5% of the industry’s workforce. Already, significant disruptions from heightened immigration enforcement are rippling through food production, processing and distribution systems across the state.
Mike Shine of the Texas Restaurant Association pointed to industry surveys showing that 56% of Texas restaurants report significant losses. For restaurant owners, he said, the issue is no longer simply about lost revenue—it’s about lost workers.
Immigration attorney Jacob M. Monty offered a phrase that resonated throughout the room: “Driving While Undocumented,” or DWU. For many immigrants, he said, something as routine as driving to work can carry the fear that a traffic stop could lead to detention or family separation. Traffic stops are responsible for most immigrant detentions in Texas, now the highest number of any state.
Panelists agreed that changing course requires changing the narrative, making clear how integral immigrants are not just to the economy but also to the culture.
“We need to surface the story of immigrants—the people who feed us,” Kean said.
Anne McBride of the James Beard Foundation, herself a green card holder, noted that many immigrants are increasingly reluctant to speak publicly about their experiences, concerned that visibility could bring unwanted scrutiny to themselves, their families or their businesses.
“Everyone who is safe to be loud really has a responsibility to do it,” McBride said. “It should not just be on the most vulnerable immigrants to be speaking up for themselves, because they are too exposed.”
For now, in the words of AIC director and panel moderator Jeremy Robbins, the narrative is clear: from farmworkers harvesting crops in South Texas to cooks preparing dinner in Houston restaurants, immigrants are not just operating on the edges of Texas’ food economy—they are holding it together.
