According to California farm owners, supervisors, and workers speaking with Reuters, an estimated 70% of the state’s farm labor has already been detained, deported, or disappeared due to ICE raids.
That means crops are not being picked and fruit and vegetables are rotting at peak harvest time, leaving farmers on the tipping point of closing shop. Americans will likely see the consequences in the food supply chain and rising produce costs in coming months.
Over a third of U.S. vegetables and over three-quarters of the country’s fruits and nuts are grown in California, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The state’s farms and ranches generated nearly $60 billion in agricultural sales in 2023.
Of the four immigrant farmworkers Reuters spoke to, two are in the country illegally. These two spoke on the condition of anonymity, out of fear of being arrested by ICE.
One, aged 54, has worked in U.S. agricultural fields for 30 years and has a wife and children in the country. He said most of his colleagues have stopped showing up for work.
“If they show up to work, they don’t know if they will ever see their family again,” he said.
Reuters
