Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reported that agents were sweeping across Tulare, Ventura, and Fresno counties in California, among other sites, targeting workers picking blueberries and packing produce. The state provides a third of the vegetables and more than half of the nuts and fruits sold in the U.S; at least half of the 255,000 workers who make that possible are undocumented. In Nebraska, ICE agents raided a meatpacking facility called Glenn Valley Foods and took away 70 workers. In Texas, agents took workers from two restaurants.
The actions and other recent reports suggest immigration enforcement at workplaces is likely to increase as the agencies attempt to meet new White House goals of 3,000 arrests per day. While the Trump administration’s deportation numbers are still lower than numbers under President Biden, many of the Biden-era deportations were happening at the border as high numbers of individuals attempted to enter the country.
Trump’s crackdown has resulted in historically low border crossings, so hitting those numbers means pursuing immigrants already living and working in the U.S. And while the administration has promoted its arrests of immigrants with criminal records, an ICE agent told The New York Times today that all undocumented immigrants are being treated “as criminals based on their manner of entry.”
The food system’s many sectors—especially farms, food processing plants, restaurants, and food delivery companies—rely on the labor of immigrants, a significant number of whom don’t have legal authorization to work in the U.S.
During a House Agriculture Committee hearing today, both Republicans and Democrats brought up the issue with Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. “Recent enforcement actions have begun to impact and even target agricultural operations, and yet there’s still a lack of clarity for producers,” said Chairman G.T. Thompson (R-Pennsylvania).
Rollins told lawmakers that she discussed the issue with President Trump yesterday and that she is working with the Secretaries of Labor and Homeland Security to address immigration enforcement’s impact on farms.
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