As the crucial season of the summer harvest begins in the vast agricultural regions of California, farmers and their workers say they feel beats by a series of contradictory signals on how the repression of Trump's administration on illegal immigration could affect them.
California cultivates more than a third of the country's vegetables and more than three quarters of the fruits and nuts of the nation in the fertile extensions of the central valley, the central coast and other agricultural regions. The industry produced almost $ 60 billion in goods in 2023, According to state figures – A result that depends largely on the qualified work on a workforce that is at least 50% undocumented, according to the studies of the University of California.
Without the workers, the juicy flesh that are maturing and must be handled by hand will rot in the vines. The yellow peaches that have just reached that delicate mixture of sweet and sour will fall to the ground, without marking. The same with melons, grapes and cherries.
That is why, when the federal immigration agents arrived at the Oxnard berries fields last week and arrested 40 agricultural workers, the producers from above and below worried along with their workers.
Agricultural workers, many of whom have lived and worked in their communities for decades, were terrified of being rounded and deported, separated from their families and livelihoods. Farmers were concerned that their workforce disappeared, either locked in detention centers or forced shades for fear of arrest, as well as their most necessary work. Everyone wanted to know if the raids in Oxnard were the beginning of a broader state repression that would radically interrupt the harvest season, which is also the period in which most agricultural workers earn the greatest amount of money, or simply a unique application action.
In the following days, the answers have not become clearer, according to farmers, the defenders of the workers and the elected officials.
“We, as a California agricultural community, are trying to discover what is happening,” said Ryan Jacobsen, executive director of the Fresno County Agriculture Office and farmer of almonds and grapes. He added that “time is essential”, because farms and orchards are “entering our busiest.”
After the raids in Ventura County last week, producers throughout the country began to urgently press the Trump administration, arguing that the application action in agricultural operations could hinder food production. They pointed out the fields around Oxnard after the wording, where, according to the Ventura County Agriculture Office, up to 45% of the workers stayed at home in later days.
President Trump seemed to receive the message. On Thursday, he published in Truth Social that “our great farmers”, together with the leaders in the hotel industry, had complained that their immigration policies were “very good workers and a long time of them, with those works almost impossible to replace”.
He added that “it was not good” and “the changes come!”
The same day, According to a New York Times reportA senior official of the application of immigration and customs of the United States wrote Regional ICE directors who tell them to dismiss the farms, along with restaurants and hotels.
“As of today, consider all research/operations of application of the work site on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packaging plants), restaurants and operating hotels,” the official wrote.
Many in California agriculture were encouraged.
Then Monday News arrived That the directive to remain out of farms, hotels and restaurants had been reversed.
“There will be no safe spaces for industries that house violent criminals or deliberately try to undermine ICE efforts,” said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the National Security Department, according to Washington Post. “The application of the workplace remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safeguard public safety, national security and economic stability.”
In the heart of California, Jacobsen of the Fresno County Agriculture Office spoke for many farmers when he said: “We have no idea right now.”
He asked Tuesday to clarify the administration policy on immigration rates in farmland, the spokeswoman for the White House, Abigail Jackson, said the Trump administration is committed to “enforcing the Federal Immigration Law.”
“While the president focuses on immediately eliminating illegal dangerous criminal foreigners in the country,” said Jackson, “anyone who is illegally can be deported.”
Even so, Jacobsen and others pointed out, apart from the agitation in Ventura County last week, agricultural operations in other parts of the State have been largely saved from mass immigration sweeps.
Meanwhile, workers have continued to present work, and most have even returned to the fields in Ventura County.
According to several people interviewed, there has been a remarkable result of last week's raids: employers are reaching workers' rights organizations, seeking guidance on how to keep their workers safe.
“Some employers are trying to take measures to protect their employees, the best they can,” said Armando Elenes, Treasurer Secretary of United Agricultural Workers.
He said that his organization and others have been training employers on how to respond if immigration agents appear on their farms or packaging houses. A central message said: Do not allow property agents not to have an order signed.
In fact, many of the producers whose properties were raided in Ventura County seem to have understood that; The defenders reported that the federal agents were rejected with several farms because they did not have a court order.
In Ventura County, Lucas Zucker, executive director of the Central Alliance of the United Costa for a sustainable economy, a group that has often disagree with producers on issues such as the payment and protections of the workers, stressed the unusual alliance that has forged between farmers and defenders of the workers.
Two days after the raids, Zucker read a statement condemning Barre immigration on behalf of Maureen McGuire, executive director of the Ventura County Agriculture Office, an organization that represents the producers.
“Farmers are deeply concerned about their workers, not as abstract labor, but as human beings and valuable members of the community who deserve dignity, security and respect,” McGuare said in the statement. “Ventura County agriculture depends on them. California's economy depends on them. The United States food system depends on them.”
Before reading the statement, Zucker evoked the laugh of light when he said to the crowd: “For those of you [with] Ventura County, you may be surprised to see the cause of reading a statement from the agricultural office. We collide with many issues, but this is something we are united and literally talking with one voice. “
“The agricultural industry and agricultural workers are under attack, with federal agencies that appear at the door,” Zucker said later. “Nothing brings together people as a common enemy.”
This article is part of the times' Variable income report initiative, financed by him James Irvine Foundationexploring the challenges faced by low -income workers and the efforts that are being made to address The Economic Division of California.
