The social media platform formerly known as Twitter has been in a frenzy in recent days, with users calling for a boycott against food-processing giant Tyson Foods. The users of X were responding to unconfirmed rumors that Tyson’s recent decisions to shutter facilities in the U.S. will be counterbalanced by the hiring of tens of thousands of illegal immigrants.
“They fired our American brothers and sisters who work hard and replaced them with migrants, ‘asylum seekers.’ As a True American and owner of a small American food business, I promise to never hire illegal immigrants. They will never touch my biscuits, pancakes or any of my food products,” wrote Terrence K. Williams, founder of breakfast food company Cousin T’s.
It wasn’t long that memes were being shared on X and Facebook depicting Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk also endorsing the boycott, though there were no public statements on Musk’s X account to support these claims.
Tyson Foods has been in the crosshairs recently over its decision in mid-March to close a pork plant in Iowa, resulting in the loss of 1,200 jobs and marking the end of the largest employer in the town of Perry. This decision follows the closure of several other plants — including in Virginia, Arkansas, Indiana, and Missouri — in the past year and the consolidation of corporate operations in the preceding year.
The company owns not only the Tyson brand but also Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, BallPark, State Fair, Sara Lee, and almost three dozen others.
The #BoycottTyson calls began as early as March 15 with an X post from the account @EndWokeness, which has 2.4 million followers. The post specifically referenced the plant closures and illegal immigrant workers and was at least partly in response to a now-retracted Scripps News article that referenced a massive hiring of asylum-seekers.
Tyson is closing its facility in Perry, Iowa and laying off its 1,200 workers.
Instead, they plan to hire thousands of new illegals in states like New York.#BoycottTyson. Pass it on. pic.twitter.com/CTweuRbAMU
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 15, 2024
That same day, the British tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail reported that Tyson Foods aims to hire 42,000 immigrants this year — doubling its current staff of immigrants — and would offer them $16.50-an-hour wages and free immigration lawyers in states like New York.
However, Tyson was quick to respond to those reports, telling Newsweek in a statement: “In recent days, there has been a lot of misinformation in the media about our company, and we feel compelled to set the record straight. Tyson Foods is strongly opposed to illegal immigration, and we led the way in participating in two major government programs to help employers combat unlawful employment, E-Verify and the Mutual Agreement between Government and Employees program.”
“Any insinuation that we would cut American jobs to hire immigrant workers is completely false,” the company said.
Still, in the days since, the fires were already stoked, and #BoycottTyson became a trending hashtag on X, especially over the weekend. Tyson, which is based in Springdale, Arkansas, was repeatedly called “unpatriotic” and “illegal” and having gone “woke.”
The case is centered around concerns that asylum seekers from Mexico and other Latin American nations will be replacing American citizens in the workforce, especially in meat-packing and other undesirable jobs amid record low unemployment.