Immigration raids leave crops unharvested, California farms at risk
CALIFORNIA, JUN 30 – ICE raids led to up to 70% of California farmworkers absent, causing significant crop losses and threatening the state’s $60 billion agricultural economy, officials reported.
- Federal immigration agents conducted enforcement actions earlier this month in Ventura County, California, causing disruptions to the local agricultural labor force.
- The raids followed President Donald Trump's migration crackdown and caused many immigrant workers, including unauthorized ones, to stop showing up, threatening crop harvests.
- Farm supervisors report up to 70 percent worker absences leading to unharvested crops that can spoil within one day, with native-born workers not filling the gaps.
- Economist Bernard Yaros highlighted in a June 26 report that native-born workers generally do not step in to replace immigrant farm laborers who have left, while farmer Greg Tesch mentioned that ICE actions are causing concern even among authorized workers.
- The labor shortage has caused financial strain on farmers, potential price hikes for consumers, and increased calls for balancing immigration enforcement with agricultural stability.
40 Articles
40 Articles
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California farmer warns immigration enforcement threatens food supply
The $2 billion agricultural industry in California's Ventura County faces new challenges as immigration enforcement intensifies in farming communities, threatening the workforce that keeps food on American tables.Lisa Tate, a sixth-generation farmer in Ventura County, grows citrus, avocados, and coffee on land her family has owned since the 1920s."My family came to Ventura County in 1876," Tate said.The lemons grown on her property are distribut…
The growing wave of migratory raids in California’s large agricultural fields is spreading fear among thousands of undocumented laborers working in precarious conditions. In Oxnard, strawberry and lemon crops look empty, with crops about to be lost and workers afraid of returning due to deportation risk. Community organizations warn of an economic and social crisis that affects both migrant families and the U.S. agricultural industry.
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Farmworkers in California living in fear after ICE raids
Ventura County farmworkers are avoiding work and living in terror following immigration enforcement actions that have disrupted the $2 billion agricultural industry, according to local advocates and city leaders.Federal agents were captured on video, posted to Instagram, chasing workers through the fields of Oxnard on June 10, with approximately 40 people detained according to local officials."Unfortunately, on June 10, a lot of that fear came t…
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