“There’s a whole food chain involved,” from field workers to truck drivers to people working in packing houses and in sales.
“It’s just, everybody’s scared,” she said - even a multi-generational American like her.
“I’m nervous and I’m scared, because we’re feeling like we’re being attacked.”
Other farmers contacted by AFP declined to speak to the media, saying they feared potential reprisals from the Trump administration.
Worker shortages
The agricultural sector has for years been trying to find permanent solutions for its perennial labour shortages, beyond issuing temporary permits for migrant workers.
“Some of the work we have is seasonal,” Tate says.
“But really, around here, we need workers that are year-round.”
The number of government-certified positions for temporary agricultural workers practically tripled between 2014 and 2024, Department of Labour statistics show, underlining just how much American agriculture depends on foreign workers.
On top of that, some 42% of farm workers are not authorised to work in the United States, according to a 2022 study by the Department of Agriculture.
Those numbers line up with the struggles many farmers go through to find labour.
They say US citizens are not interested in the physically demanding work, with its long days under extreme temperatures, rain and sun.
Against that backdrop, Tate warns that removing people who are actually doing the work will cause immeasurable damage.
Not only will it harm farms and ranches, which could take years to recover, it will also send food prices soaring, and even endanger US food security, possibly requiring the country to start importing provisions that may previously have been grown at home, she says.
“What we really need is some legislation that has the type of programme that we need, and that works for both the workers, that ensures their safety, it ensures a fair playing field when it comes to international trade, as well as domestic needs,” Tate said.
‘Everyone loses’
Some farmworkers agreed to speak to AFP on condition of not being fully identified, for fear of being arrested.
“All we do is work,” a worker named Silvia told AFP.
She saw several friends arrested in a raid in Oxnard, about 16km west of Ventura.
The 32-year-old Mexican lives in constant fear that she will be the next one picked up and, in the end, separated from her two US-born daughters.
“We’re between a rock and a hard place.
“If we don’t work, how will we pay our bills?
“And if we go out, we run the risk of running into them,” she said, referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
“The way the government is working right now, everybody loses,” said Miguel, who has been working in the fields of southern California for three decades.
The 54-year-old said that workers are losing jobs, farm owners are losing their labour, and as a result, the United States is losing its food.
Miguel has worked in various agriculture sector jobs, including during the Covid-19 pandemic.
All of them were “very hard jobs,” he said.
Now he feels like he has a target on his back.
“They should do a little research so they understand. The food they eat comes from the fields, right?” he said.
“So it would be good if they were more aware, and gave us an opportunity to contribute positively, and not send us into hiding.”
- Agence France-Presse
