ICE raids on California farms seen threatening food supply chain Story by Times of San Diego
Large-scale immigration raids at packinghouses and fields in California are threatening businesses that supply much of the country’s food, farm bureaus say.
Dozens of farmworkers have been arrested recently after uniformed federal agents fanned out on farms northwest of Los Angeles in Ventura County, which is known for growing strawberries, lemons and avocados.
Others are skipping work as fear in immigrant communities has deepened as President Donald Trump steps up his immigration crackdown, vowing to dramatically increase arrests and sending federal agents to detain people at Home Depot parking lots and workplaces including car washes and a garment factory. It also comes as Trump sent National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles following protests over his immigration enforcement operations. Demonstrations have since spread to other U.S. cities.
Maureen McGuire, chief executive of Ventura County’s farm bureau, said between 25% and 45% of farmworkers have stopped showing up for work since the large-scale raids began this month.
“When our workforce is afraid, fields go unharvested, packinghouses fall behind, and market supply chains, from local grocery stores to national retailers, are affected,” she said in a statement on Thursday. “This impacts every American who eats.”
California is a major center of American agriculture
California’s farms produce more than a third of the country’s vegetables and more than three-quarters of its fruits and nuts. While the state’s government is dominated by Democrats, there are large Republican areas that run through farm country, and many growers throughout the state have been counting on Trump to help with key agricultural issues ranging from water to trade.
Primitiva Hernandez, executive director of 805 UndocuFund, estimates at least 43 people were detained in farm fields in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties since Monday. The number is from both the Mexican consulate and the group’s own estimates from talking with family members of people detained, she said.
Elizabeth Strater, the United Farm Workers’ director of strategic campaigns, said her group received reports of immigration arrests on farms as far north as California’s Central Valley. Lucas Zucker, co-executive director of the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, said farmworker members reported that agents went to at least nine farms but were turned away by supervisors because they lacked a warrant.
“This is just a mass assault on a working-class immigrant community and essentially profiling,” Zucker said. “They are not going after specific people who are really targeted. They’re just fishing.”
In response to questions about the farm arrests, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that the agency will follow the president’s direction and continue to seek to remove immigrants who have committed crimes.
Trump recognizes growers’ concerns
On Thursday, Trump acknowledged growers’ concerns that his stepped-up immigration enforcement could leave them without workers they rely on to grow the country’s food. He said something would be done to address the situation, but he did not provide specifics.
“Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,” he said on his social media account, adding: “We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!”
The California Farm Bureau said it has not received reports of a widespread disruption to its workforce, but there are concerns among community members. Bryan Little, the bureau’s senior director of policy advocacy, said the group has long pressed for immigration reform to deal with long-running labor shortages.
“We recognize that some workers may feel uncertain right now, and we want to be very clear: California agriculture depends on and values its workforce,” Little said in a statement. “If federal immigration enforcement activities continue in this direction, it will become increasingly difficult to produce food, process it and get it onto grocery store shelves.”
Farmworker fears for his children
One worker, who asked not to be named out of fear, said he was picking strawberries at a Ventura County farm early Tuesday when more than a dozen cars pulled up to the farm next door. He said they arrested at least three people and put them in vans, while women who worked on the farm burst out crying. He said the supervisors on his farm did not allow the agents inside.
“The first thing that came to my mind is, who will stay with my kids?” the worker, who is originally from Mexico and has lived in the United States for two decades, said in Spanish. “It’s something so sad and unfortunate because we are not criminals.”
He said he didn’t go to work Wednesday out of fear, and his bosses told him to stay home at least one more day until things settle down. But that means fruit isn’t getting picked, and he isn’t getting paid.
“These are lost days, days that we’re missing work. But what else can we do?” he said.
ChristopherBlackwell
I get the issue about illegals in this country, but what they are doing is INSANE!
Find the long time workers and offer them work visa that could lead to a path to citizenship. They are the immigrants we NEED and WANT. They do labor that no one else will do. Sure, eventually, they'll get better jobs as citizens, but there will always be others to take their place if offered work visas for seasonal farming.
To show how bad the problem was and how effective they are in dealing with it.
Abrego Garcia asked to remain in custody following his acquittal because he knows ICE is waiting for him to appear so they can do it again, this time permanently.
My bowling partner's apartment complex manager. Iranian in his 70s, arrested by ICE for being an alleged terrorist and deported immediately. Neighbors told by ICE he will never be seen again. What exactly does that mean? For 20 years he managed those apartments!
Low hanging fruit.
Real gang members and leaders are hidden, like they always are. Felon and his DOC, that is Departments of Organized Crime are picking the easiest, low hanging fruit and whisking them the hell outta here before anyone knows or can act. How many are gone?
Yesterday a man detained near... for all practical purposes in Alligator Alcatraz, collapsed from the oppressive conditions and died. Homan showed no remorse what so ever, justifying it by saying people die in custory all the time.
This man lived here for 60 years. His one crime, 60 years ago, was for selling pot. He received an 18 month sentence. He turned his life around and was a model citizen ever since.
My tolerance is now zero. We elected a Fuhrer and he built foreign and domestic internment camps. It isn't that we're modeling after Nazi Germany. We're well past that. We're there. It isn't happening. It happened. Past tense. And the world turned against us. Do we have one ally anywhere? You can look away from a painting, but you can't listen away from a symphony
on June 30, 2025, 2:51 pm
