Trump’s immigration crackdown has made many immigrant farm workers scared to go to work

Lisa Tate is a sixth-generation farmer in Ventura county, California, an area that produces billions of dollars worth of fruit and vegetables each year, much of it hand-picked by immigrants in the US illegally.

Tate knows the farms around her well. And she says she can see with her own eyes how raids carried out by agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in the area’s fields earlier this month, part of Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, have frightened off workers.

“In the fields, I would say 70% of the workers are gone,” she said in an interview. “If 70% of your workforce doesn’t show up, 70% of your crop doesn’t get picked and can go bad in one day. Most Americans don’t want to do this work. Most farmers here are barely breaking even. I fear this has created a tipping point where many will go bust.“

  • BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    California has a reputation for being liberal, leftist, and progressive… but remember that the vast, overwhelming majority of farmers in the state are as fascist and blindly, religiously Republican as the most red parts of the most red states. They voted for this.

    • yarr@feddit.nl
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      2 days ago

      They wanted to keep THEIR illegal workers. They just wanted everyone ELSE’S to be deported. Hypocrisy is live and well in the US.