Immigration raids are threatening businesses that supply America's food,
farm bureaus say
[June 14, 2025] By
AMY TAXIN and DORANY PINEDA
VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — 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.
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Farm workers gather produce on Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Moorpark,
Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
 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.
___
Taxin reported from Santa Ana, California
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