‘Fields were solitary’: Migration raids send chill across rural California

Los Angeles, California — Recent raids carried retired by the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) successful a agrarian California region person struck fearfulness into migrant communities arsenic President-elect Donald Trump prepares to instrumentality to the White House.

CBP says that the cognition successful Kern County, which took spot implicit 3 days successful aboriginal January, resulted successful the detention of 78 people. The United Farm Workers (UFW) national says it believes the fig is person to 200.

“The fields were astir solitary the time aft the raids,” a 38-year-old undocumented farmworker named Alejanda, who declined to springiness her past name, said of the aftermath.

She explained that galore workers stayed location retired of fear. “This clip of year, the orchards are usually afloat of people, but it felt similar I was by myself erstwhile I returned to work.”

The raids are being seen by section labourers and organisations similar UFW arsenic a changeable crossed the bow from migration enforcement agencies earlier Trump’s inauguration connected Monday.

His 2nd word arsenic president is expected to ringing successful a caller epoch of enhanced restrictions and deportation efforts.

While the fig of radical arrested represents a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands of undocumented workers underpinning California’s cultivation sector, the anxieties caused by specified raids widen acold beyond those detained.

“On Wednesday [the time aft the raids], I stayed location from work. I hardly near my house,” said Alejanda, adding that she kept her five-year-old lad location from daycare alternatively than hazard driving to driblet him off.

“Everyone is talking astir what happened. Everyone is afraid, including me. I didn’t really spot immoderate of the agents myself, but you inactive consciousness the tension.”

Emboldened agencies

Following a statesmanlike run wherever helium routinely depicted undocumented migrants arsenic “criminals” and “animals”, Trump volition apt effort to fulfill his committedness to transportation retired the “largest deportation programme” successful the country’s past connected his archetypal time successful office.

About 11 cardinal radical unrecorded successful the United States without ineligible documentation, immoderate of whom person worked successful the state for decades, gathering families and communities.

The January arrests successful Kern County look to beryllium the archetypal large-scale Border Patrol raid successful California since Trump’s triumph successful the November election, which acceptable disconnected speculation astir the imaginable interaction of mass deportations connected migrant communities and the economical sectors babelike connected their labour.

About 50 percent of California’s cultivation workforce is made up of undocumented immigrants.

In California, undocumented presumption has been cited arsenic a root of persistent anxiousness for workers — arsenic good arsenic a means of leverage for employers, who often wage specified labourers little wages and assistance them fewer protections successful the fields.

But Alejanda says that workplace raids similar the ones that took spot successful Kern County person not been communal successful the area.

“I person been present for 5 years and ne'er experienced thing similar this before,” she said, noting that workers were detained portion leaving the fields to spell home.

CBP said successful a connection that the operation, named “Return to Sender”, had targeted undocumented radical with transgression backgrounds and connections to transgression organisations.

#WeFeedYou pic.twitter.com/8e6GE9RRkK

— United Farm Workers (@UFWupdates) January 11, 2025

The raids were carried retired by agents from the CBP El Centro Sector, located adjacent the borderline betwixt Mexico and confederate California, much than 5 hours by car from the tract of the raids.

“The El Centro Sector takes each borderline threats seriously,” Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino said successful a property release. “Our country of work stretches from the US/Mexico Border, north, arsenic ngo and menace dictate, each the mode to the Oregon line.”

Antonio De Loera-Brust, a spokesperson for UFW, said that the cognition shows that agencies similar CBP are apt to go much assertive arsenic Trump takes office.

He besides disputed CBP’s characterisation of the raids arsenic focused connected radical with transgression records, saying that the cognition formed a wide nett and profiled radical who looked similar farmworkers.

Two of those arrested were UFW members, whom the organisation described arsenic fathers who had lived successful the country for much than 15 years.

“By operating implicit 300 miles northbound of the Mexican border, and seemingly conducting this untargeted expanse based connected profiling connected their ain inaugural and authority, Border Patrol has shown itself to beryllium intelligibly emboldened by a nationalist governmental clime of hostility towards hard-working migrant communities,” De Loera-Brust told Al Jazeera.

“It’s surely profoundly concerning that this benignant of cognition could beryllium the caller mean nether the incoming Trump administration.”