{"id":272427,"date":"2026-04-17T10:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T10:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/272427\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T10:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T10:41:10","slug":"on-california-farms-workers-say-threats-to-deport-them-on-the-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/272427\/","title":{"rendered":"On California farms, workers say threats to deport them on the rise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In many years on dairy farms, the worker often labored for 10 hours with no breaks. <\/p>\n

Sometimes, he said, a boss asked him to clean milk tanks using harsh chemicals without protective gear. He was electrocuted when he stepped into a puddle created by a broken water pump, he said.<\/p>\n

At his latest job in Kings County, he stayed silent, fearing he could lose his job. <\/p>\n

Last summer, at the height of federal immigration raids in California, the boss issued a warning, according to the worker: If anyone tried to take legal action against him, he\u2019d make sure they ended up in Tijuana.<\/p>\n

For the dairy worker, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico in his mid-50s who requested anonymity to speak about the incident, this felt like the final straw. After more than two decades working on dairy farms, most recently earning about $1,800 every 15 days, he packed his things and quit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat if they sent someone after me, or they wanted to get rid of me all of a sudden?\u201d he said in a video interview from a farmworker advocacy group\u2019s office shortly after leaving his job. \u201cI couldn\u2019t bear living there anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid President Trump\u2019s mass deportation campaign, immigration-related threats from supervisors in the fields are on the rise, farmworkers and advocates say.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A farmworker picks strawberries in a field in the Coachella Valley.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Farmworkers who turned to advocacy groups for help spoke to The Times about their experiences but did not want to be identified for fear of retribution from their employers and the federal government. They described instances in which bosses threatened to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement on them, sometimes because they complained about workplace violations.<\/p>\n

In a state where roughly 60% of farmworkers are undocumented, according to surveys by UC Merced Community and Labor Center, many already feared being deported or separated from their families. But the intensity of Trump\u2019s campaign has increased the frequency of such threats and the fear they create, workers and advocates say. <\/p>\n

Last January, a three-day raid in Kern County<\/a> where undocumented laborers were arrested set off panic in the Central Valley and other farming regions with large immigrant workforces. In June, a video captured<\/a> a farmworker running across an Oxnard field while being chased by immigration agents. And a July raid on a cannabis farm in Ventura County resulted in the arrests of hundreds and the death of a man who fell off a roof<\/a> while trying to hide. <\/p>\n

\u201cImmigrant workforces like farmworkers, they\u2019re being exposed to an increase amount of violations at their work, and that includes immigration-related threats,\u201d California Labor Commissioner Lilia Garc\u00eda-Brower said. <\/p>\n

At the same time, she added, \u201cworkers have an increased fear of coming forward to report violations and to cooperate in investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of that fear, the number of complaints reported to her agency each year \u2014 an average of about 30,000 \u2014 doesn\u2019t capture the full picture, she said, when there are more than 18 million workers in the state.<\/p>\n

Her office has partnered with community groups across the Central Coast, the Central Valley and the Coachella Valley to inform agricultural workers about their rights, holding between 15 to 30 events a month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey really just want … to work,\u201d she said of farmworkers. \u201cThey want good, steady employment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Farmworkers <\/p>\n

Farmworkers take a break from picking strawberries to listen as Luz Gallegos, executive director of the Todec Legal Center, explains assistance and resources available to them if they find themselves confronted with immigration agents.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Some employers have taken measures to protect workers and keep ICE off their properties. <\/p>\n

Rob Roy, president and general counsel of the Ventura County Agricultural Assn., said he has not heard of employers in his region making immigration-related threats.<\/p>\n

After the three-day Kern County raid,<\/a> the association informed its members \u2014 growers, packing houses, farm labor contractors, nurseries and related businesses \u2014 that immigration agents need warrants to enter their properties. Members, who received \u201cKnow Your Rights\u201d cards to distribute to workers, should tell workers to take their breaks on site when ICE agents are in town, the association recommended.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be inimical for our growers or labor contractors to be threatening workers with deportation or contacting ICE, because we have done totally the opposite in terms of educating the farmworker community and growers,\u201d Roy said.<\/p>\n

But at other farms, workers said they face retribution if they speak out. Finding work is often dependent on references from previous jobs, so maintaining good relationships with employers, as well as the contractors who supply farm labor, is a matter of survival, they said. <\/p>\n

Ana Padilla, executive director of the UC Merced Community and Labor Center, said farmworkers have described instances of employers pointing out Border Patrol or ICE vehicles and saying they easily could call them over.<\/p>\n

In Yolo County, a farmworker said that after she and others reported that a family member of their supervisor falsified work hours, the supervisor said that if he felt like it, he could report undocumented workers to immigration agents. <\/p>\n

\u201c[The raids] were one of the reasons he would make these types of comments, because he knew it would intimidate us,\u201d said the worker, who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution from employers. A coworker urged her to not speak out again, she said, but she ended up losing her job after the contractor stopped calling her. <\/p>\n

\"Farmworkers <\/p>\n

Farmworkers listen as an advocate explains assistance and resources available to them.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said work site immigration enforcement remains a \u201ccornerstone\u201d in the administration\u2019s efforts to protect public safety and national security. <\/p>\n

A White House spokesperson, Abigail Jackson, said there are plenty of American workers to meet employers\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump\u2019s agenda to create jobs for American workers represents this Administration\u2019s commitment to capitalizing on that untapped potential while delivering on our mandate to enforce our immigration laws,\u201d Jackson said in a statement. <\/p>\n

A 2022 UC Merced study<\/a> found that farmworkers face deep socioeconomic barriers: 42% reported low food security, and many live in overcrowded housing, with a median wage of $16,000 per year. <\/p>\n

Amalia Bernardo, an organizer with the Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Ind\u00edgena Oaxaque\u00f1o, which supports Indigenous communities in rural California, said her group tried to help a farmworker who said he wasn\u2019t paid for the work he did. <\/p>\n

When the worker tried to claim the wages, the employer told him that \u201cif he doesn\u2019t stop what he\u2019s doing, \u2018le va echar la migra.\u2019 He\u2019s going to call ICE,\u201d said Bernardo, whose organization has four offices in the Central Valley.<\/p>\n

As a community organizer with Valley Voices in the Central Valley, Araceli Molar de Barrios hands out free food to farmworkers, along with \u201cKnow Your Rights\u201d cards.<\/p>\n

Some workers tell her they\u2019re owed wages or they weren\u2019t paid for sick days. Some have had family members taken away by ICE.<\/p>\n

She encourages them to submit complaints about labor violations to the state. But often, she said, they fear losing their jobs \u2014 or worse, having ICE called on them and being separated from their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe explain to them that everyone has rights. Don\u2019t be afraid to speak up. If something happens to you, let us know,\u201d she said. \u201cMany of them say no, and others let us help them.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A farmworker in the Coachella Valley.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

On a Wednesday in February in the Coachella Valley, more than two dozen farmworkers weaved up and down rows of strawberries, their gloved hands flicking quickly to pluck the fruit and stash it in boxes.<\/p>\n

Luz Gallegos, executive director of the Todec Legal Center, thanked them for their hard work. They gathered around Gallegos and community educator Luis Guzman, who informed them about free English classes, a hotline for immigration services and their rights as workers. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not alone, we are with you, and we\u2019re working hard to ensure justice,\u201d Gallegos said.<\/p>\n