Raids cause labor shortages and an increase in the cost of products and food goods

      BAKERSFIELD, CA – Fear is constant in Kern County's agricultural fields, with workers living with the uncertainty that at some point ICE agents will arrive and begin panicking raids as has happened in cities like Los Angeles and Ventura. The workers who offer their labor so that the crops are harvested on time and reach the tables of citizens day by day are worried. Such is the case of Reyna Sánchez, originally from Oaxaca, Mexico and 60 years old, who tells El Popular that she has lived in Kern County for 20 years and had never been in a situation of worry and fear like now.

   Sánchez has two children who live in the United States, a man and a woman, already married and with children, Reyna's grandchildren, but now she depends on her work to pay her rent, her services, her food and her transportation "she doesn't know, whenever I leave my house I entrust myself to God and whatever happens,  the migra is strong and what I have to do is work, without work there is no food," Reyna said. He explained that his "raite" passes at 5 in the morning and travels from Bakersfield to McFarland, which is where they are working on the grapes, "I leave with a lot of fear, in one of those I will not return and I will not see my children and grandchildren again."

     Meanwhile, Gloria Robles from Guatemala, who has worked in the grape harvest for 25 years, tells El Popular that she has never seen raids so closely as those seen in Los Angeles and that one of these days ICE is going to show up and "bam" they take us.

   Gloria is a resident of Wasco, California and with her husband sick with blood pressure and diabetes, she says that when she leaves her home to go to the field to work she does not even want to 'think that she will be caught by ICE, my husband needs assistance and attention, but if she is absent she will not be able to help him. "He requires daily care, bathing, eating healthy, and helping him move to the bathroom. " I don't even want to think that if they catch me in the who will take care of me is little."

   And just like the two of them, thousands of farmworkers go out daily to show their support in the face of ICE's attacks against the undocumented. "We don't hurt anyone, we just work and bring food to homes in the United States.

   The raids that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with its other agencies, such as the Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Investigations (HIS), have conducted since the beginning of the year have begun to reflect several changes in the nation's agricultural system that have reduced the labor force and begun to increase the price of services and food products across the nation.

   "These actions by ICE have caused a psychological problem that has destabilized and caused a negative impact on farm workers," said Hector Hernandez, executive director of the Benito Juarez Popular Unity Center.

    These actions have caused deep frustration and fear, characterized by anxiety, uncertainty, and the terror of family separation. These raids, as seen in several videos shown on social media and in the news, disrupt their lives, as well as exacerbate exploitation by ranchers and inflict serious mental and emotional problems on workers and their families.

Constant state of fear and anxiety

     The networks have shown that workers, not only in agriculture, but also in other industries that have been affected by immigration checkpoints and raids, have to navigate an impossible choice: Go to work and risk arrest and deportation, or stay home and lose their income.

    Clearly this situation is the number one cause of their anxiety and lack of confidence.

    Daily routines have been horrific, as fear extends beyond work, affecting the family's daily life, such as the daily commute, dropping children off at school, and going to the grocery store for the week.

  The contingency of going to work also brings its negativity, as workers have perpetual anxiety and lack of confidence, where:

  • Everyday routines become horrific: Fear extends beyond work to everyday activities such as commuting home or vice versa, dropping kids off at school or going to the store.
  • Constant vigilance is necessary: workers who live in the state have hypervigilance, constantly looking behind them, anxiously and nervously at any sound they hear.
  • Your mental health suffers: Constant stress and uncertainty contribute significantly to mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
  • Loss of life: The fear of being caught has led to major results, such as the death of a farmworker in Oxnard, Ca, after falling from a roof after being chased by ICE troops.

    Specific examples include the trauma of separation, where mixed-status families, which include U.S. and undocumented family members, face the constant fear of being separated, such as the arrest of Mrs. Perla Morales Luna, who was walking with her two daughters to the place where they pay their rent in National City.  California, when immigration agents detained her.  

     In a recent video, an abandoned van is shown on one of the Chicago highways, where two minors were abandoned when immigration agents detained them and took possession of the parents, Moises Enciso Trejo, 41, and his wife Constancia Ramirez Meraz, 43, in the town of Cicero, Illinois.

   "These people are being terrorized," said Teresa Romero, president of the United Farm Workers Union. 

   An attorney for the family said the children are heartbroken and devastated by these actions, and want their parents back.

Fear and the need to work

       In an interview with the president of the United Farm Workers Union, UFW, she said that workers stay at home for a couple of days, but the need to work to support their families is necessary, however, it affects their families and their community and in a short time it can even affect farmers and because of such a need,  The workers only leave their homes to work and back, without stopping at usual places for fear of being arrested and not raising suspicion.

    "Disruptions caused by immigration elements cause a loss of income in the agricultural industry," said Bryan Little, senior director of policy advocacy for the California Farm Bureau. "However, we do not have documented the alleged times that immigration agents visited farms and detained workers." He added that reports have been made on social media and that his department has not received calls reporting this disruption.

   "In the vineyards that are located south of the city of Arvin, they have not been harvested," Mr. Hernandez told El Popular. "These vineyards are for the production of raisins, the grapes continue to hang and now it is too late to cut them and all because of the lack of labor."

      Romero also indicated that the lack of labor force will affect farmers at one time and soon after the consumer. And that's why the union wants to help those who can get ahead so that they don't get kidnapped by men with their faces covered and without identification. Something they do illegally and outside the constitutional rights of their victims.

    "We are trying to help workers to have their papers in order," Romero told El Popular. "We will continue the fight to be able to get the Farm Workforce Modernization Act passed," which would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish terms and conditions for nonimmigrant workers who perform agricultural work or services in the U.S.

      Romero exclaimed that it is very important for workers to unionize, regardless of their immigration status, since once unionized they will have several protections and will have the strength of the union behind them. She added that unionizing is the best way to be protected.

     "People have to understand that farmworkers are the ones who have put food on our tables for decades and we must show them the respect and gratitude that is due to them," Romero told El Popular.

Pressure and lack of labor force increases costs for farmers and consumers

      During operations to detain undocumented immigrants on farms and in other industries, it causes a huge decrease in the workforce, as many of those arrested work in the fields and in construction. These operations create a very big problem in your industry, since fruits and vegetables are not harvested on time and spoil, causing the farmer to lose a large amount of money, thus raising the cost of production and ending up in the cost of the products that are bought in the supermarket.

    Bryan Little, with the California Farm Bureau indicated that, with a diminished workforce, businesses are facing an increase in labor costs, in addition to the costs of the H2A visa where they sponsor workers to work on their crops. Since they have to use funds to be able to obtain qualified replacements for workers who have been detained, which causes a rise in the cost of labor, which is passed on to the consumer.

   Little added that from March to July 2025 the workforce has dropped by approximately 155 workers. He went on to say that reliance on immigrant workers extends throughout the food chain, including 27 percent of farmworkers and 33 percent of meatpacking workers.

     In a model developed by Professor Francis Ortega, an economist at New York University indicated that:

     The current administration recently proposed immigration policies that can cause an average of 145 percent increase in the cost of food, which includes beverages and tobacco products between 2024 and 2028.