Immigration raids pushed by President Donald Trump’s administration extended this week into California’s agricultural heartland, where federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) raided farms in Ventura County, neighboring Los Angeles, causing panic among hundreds of mostly Hispanic farmworkers.
Videos released by the United Farm Workers Union (UFW) show dramatic scenes: men and women running through furrows in the fields, trying to flee from speeding official vehicles and uniformed agents chasing them on foot. The images, captured by the day laborers themselves, went viral and provoked a wave of national outrage.
UFW and local leaders denounce “campaign of terror”
Teresa Romero, president of the UFW union, condemned the operation.
“It is an injustice. These people are not criminals, they are the ones who feed this nation. ICE comes without warrants, asking about skin color or because they speak Spanish. This is a campaign of fear,” he told Efe.
Oxnard Mayor Luis McArthur also raised his voice.
“These raids do nothing but sow chaos. They do not contribute to public safety. It is an aggression against our community.
The FBI confirmed on social media its participation in the operations “in support” of ICE and CBP in Ventura County, which reinforces the magnitude of this arrest campaign.
The impact on the agricultural industry
California is the pantry of the United States.
The state produces about 75% of the nation’s fruits and nuts and generates more than $100 billion a year in agricultural economic activity.
Much of that effort falls on Hispanic workers, many of them undocumented, with decades of experience working in the fields.
A University of California Merced study estimates that at least half of the state’s 255,700 farmworkers lack legal immigration status.
Who are being arrested?
Buzzy
Although authorities have said that the operations target people with criminal records, as occurred in a similar raid in January in Kern County, the data indicate otherwise.
Of the more than 200 arrested at the time, most were workers with no criminal record.
CBP faces a lawsuit for this operation, having moved more than 500 kilometers outside its usual jurisdiction.
Republican Congressman David Valadao, representing agricultural areas in the Central Valley, also criticized the raids.
We should focus on deporting criminals, not workers who have lived in peace for years
California’s migrant community, essential to the country’s agriculture and economy, is currently facing one of its most uncertain moments.
