US EditionImmigration 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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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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Lisa Tate is a sixth-generation farmer in Ventura County, California, an area that annually produces billions of dollars worth of fruits and vegetables, largely collected by hand by migrants who are illegally located in the United States. Tate knows well the farms around her. And she says she can see with her own eyes how the raids carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the fields of the area earlier this month, …
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