Latest news with #LisaTate
Canada News.Net
05-07-2025
- Business
- Canada News.Net
Worker shortage from ICE raids threatens the US food supply chain
SACRAMENTO, California: California's multibillion-dollar farms are facing a growing crisis—not from drought or pests, but from a sudden disappearance of labor. Immigration raids earlier this month have driven away a large share of the workforce, leaving crops unharvested and farmers deeply anxious. Lisa Tate, a sixth-generation farmer in Ventura County, has seen the fallout firsthand. Her county is a hub for fruit and vegetable production, much of it hand-picked by undocumented immigrants. "In the fields, I would say 70 percent of the workers are gone," Tate told Reuters. "If 70 percent of your workforce doesn't show up, 70 percent 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." Ventura County and the Central Valley—major agricultural zones north of Los Angeles—have been hit hard. Two farmers, two field supervisors, and four immigrant workers described how the ICE operations, part of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, have emptied the fields at peak harvest time. One Mexican farm supervisor said he normally oversees 300 workers to prep strawberry fields. On a recent day, only 80 showed up, and another supervisor reported a drop from 80 workers to just 17. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the state produces over a third of America's vegetables and more than three-quarters of its fruits and nuts. In 2023, its farms generated nearly US$60 billion in sales. But many of those crops are now at risk. "If things are ripe, such as our neighbors' bell peppers here, [and] they don't harvest within two or three days, the crop is sunburned or over-mature," said Greg Tesch, who farms in central California. "We need the labor." The chilling effect has been swift. Of the four immigrant workers Reuters spoke with, two said they are undocumented and fearful. One 54-year-old, who's worked U.S. fields for 30 years, said many of his colleagues have stopped showing up. "If they show up to work, they don't know if they will ever see their family again," he said. Another added, "We wake up scared. We worry about the sun, the heat, and now a much bigger problem — many not returning home." Community groups said that while some workers are staying home initially, many return out of economic necessity. Others are taking precautions like carpooling with legal residents or sending U.S. citizen family members to run errands. Experts warn the raids could ripple far beyond the fields. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, estimates that around 80 percent of U.S. farmworkers are foreign-born, nearly half undocumented. "This is bad for supply chains, bad for the agricultural industry," he said. Price hikes may follow. Bernard Yaros, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, noted that native-born workers are unlikely to replace the missing labor. "Unauthorized immigrants tend to work in different occupations than those who are native-born," he said. Even authorized workers feel unsafe. "Nobody feels safe when they hear the word ICE, even the documented people," said Tesch. "We know that the neighborhood is full of a combination of those with and without documents." President Trump acknowledged the disruption in a post on Truth Social, saying ICE raids were "taking very good, long-time workers away" from farms and hotels. "They're not citizens, but they've turned out to be great," he later told reporters, adding that a policy response was being considered—though no changes have yet been announced. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Trump "has always stood up for farmers" and would continue to boost agriculture while enforcing immigration laws. For California's farmers, though, time—and labor—may be running out.
The Guardian
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Ice raids leave crops unharvested at California farms: ‘We need the labor'
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.' In the vast agricultural lands north of Los Angeles, stretching from Ventura county into the state's Central valley, two farmers, two field supervisors and four immigrant farm workers told Reuters this month that the Ice raids had led a majority of workers to stop showing up. That means crops are not being picked and fruit and vegetables are rotting at peak harvest time, they said. One Mexican farm supervisor, who asked not to be named, was overseeing a field being prepared for planting strawberries last week. Usually he would have 300 workers, he said. On this day he had just 80. Another supervisor at a different farm said he usually has 80 workers in a field, but that day he had just 17. Most economists and politicians acknowledge that many US agricultural workers are in the country illegally, but say a sharp reduction in their numbers could have devastating impacts on the food supply chain and farm-belt economies. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a Republican and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said an estimated 80% of farm workers in the US were foreign-born, with nearly half of them in the country illegally. Losing them will cause price hikes for consumers, he said. 'This is bad for supply chains, bad for the agricultural industry,' Holtz-Eakin said. Over a third of US vegetables and over three-quarters of the country's fruits and nuts are grown in California, according to the California department of food and agriculture. The state's farms and ranches generated nearly $60bn in agricultural sales in 2023. Of the four immigrant farm workers Reuters spoke to, two are in the country illegally. These two spoke on the condition of anonymity, out of fear of being arrested by Ice. One, aged 54, has worked in US agricultural fields for 30 years and has a wife and children in the country. He said most of his colleagues have stopped showing up for work. 'If they show up to work, they don't know if they will ever see their family again,' he said. The other worker in the country illegally said: 'Basically, we wake up in the morning scared. We worry about the sun, the heat, and now a much bigger problem – many not returning home. I try not to get into trouble on the street. Now, whoever gets arrested for any reason gets deported.' To be sure, some farm worker community groups said many workers were still returning to the fields, despite the raids, out of economic necessity. The days following a raid may see decreased attendance in the field, but the workers soon return because they have no other sources of income, five groups told Reuters. Workers are also taking other steps to reduce their exposure to immigration agents, like carpooling with people with legal status to work or sending US citizen children to the grocery store, the groups said. Trump conceded in a post on his Truth Social account this month that Ice raids on farm workers – and also hotel workers – were 'taking very good, longtime workers away' from those sectors, 'with those jobs being almost impossible to replace'. Trump later told reporters: 'Our farmers are being hurt badly. They have very good workers.' He added: 'They're not citizens, but they've turned out to be great.' He pledged to issue an order to address the impact, but no policy change has yet been enacted. Trump had always stood up for farmers, said a White House spokesperson, Anna Kelly, in response to a request for comment on the impact of the Ice raids to farms. 'He will continue to strengthen our agricultural industry and boost exports while keeping his promise to enforce our immigration laws,' she said. Bernard Yaros, lead US economist at Oxford Economics, a non-partisan global economics advisory firm, said in a report published on 26 June that native-born workers tend not to fill the void left by immigrant workers who have left. 'Unauthorized immigrants tend to work in different occupations than those who are native-born,' he said. Ice operations in California's farmland were scaring even those who are authorized, said Greg Tesch, who runs a farm in central California. 'Nobody feels safe when they hear the word Ice, even the documented people. We know that the neighborhood is full of a combination of those with and without documents,' Tesch said. 'If things are ripe, such as our neighbors have bell peppers here, [if] they don't harvest within two or three days, the crop is sunburned or over mature,' said Tesch. 'We need the labor.'
The Guardian
01-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Ice raids leave crops unharvested at California farms: ‘We need the labor'
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.' In the vast agricultural lands north of Los Angeles, stretching from Ventura county into the state's central valley, two farmers, two field supervisors and four immigrant farmworkers told Reuters this month that the Ice raids have led a majority of workers to stop showing up. That means crops are not being picked and fruit and vegetables are rotting at peak harvest time, they said. One Mexican farm supervisor, who asked not to be named, was overseeing a field being prepared for planting strawberries last week. Usually he would have 300 workers, he said. On this day he had just 80. Another supervisor at a different farm said he usually has 80 workers in a field, but that day he had just 17. Most economists and politicians acknowledge that many US agricultural workers are in the country illegally, but say a sharp reduction in their numbers could have devastating impacts on the food supply chain and farm-belt economies. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a Republican and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said an estimated 80% of farmworkers in the US were foreign-born, with nearly half of them in the country illegally. Losing them will cause price hikes for consumers, he said. 'This is bad for supply chains, bad for the agricultural industry,' Holtz-Eakin said. Over a third of US vegetables and over three-quarters of the country's fruits and nuts are grown in California, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The state's farms and ranches generated nearly $60bn in agricultural sales in 2023. Of the four immigrant farmworkers Reuters spoke to, two are in the country illegally. These two spoke on the condition of anonymity, out of fear of being arrested by Ice. One, aged 54, has worked in US agricultural fields for 30 years and has a wife and children in the country. He said most of his colleagues have stopped showing up for work. 'If they show up to work, they don't know if they will ever see their family again,' he said. The other worker in the country illegally said: 'basically, we wake up in the morning scared. We worry about the sun, the heat, and now a much bigger problem – many not returning home. I try not to get into trouble on the street. Now, whoever gets arrested for any reason gets deported.' To be sure, some farmworker community groups said many workers were still returning to the fields, despite the raids, out of economic necessity. The days following a raid may see decreased attendance in the field, but the workers soon return because they have no other sources of income, five groups told Reuters. Workers are also taking other steps to reduce their exposure to immigration agents, like carpooling with people with legal status to work or sending US citizen children to the grocery store, the groups said. Trump conceded in a post on his Truth Social account this month that Ice raids on farm workers – and also hotel workers – were 'taking very good, long-time workers away' from those sectors, 'with those jobs being almost impossible to replace'. Trump later told reporters: 'Our farmers are being hurt badly. They have very good workers.' He added: 'They're not citizens, but they've turned out to be great.' He pledged to issue an order to address the impact, but no policy change has yet been enacted. Trump has always stood up for farmers, said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly in response to a request for comment on the impact of the Ice raids to farms. 'He will continue to strengthen our agricultural industry and boost exports while keeping his promise to enforce our immigration laws,' she said. Bernard Yaros, lead US economist at Oxford Economics, a nonpartisan global economics advisory firm, said in a report published on 26 June that native-born workers tend not to fill the void left by immigrant workers who have left. 'Unauthorized immigrants tend to work in different occupations than those who are native-born,' he said. Ice operations in California's farmland were scaring even those who are authorized, said Greg Tesch, who runs a farm in central California. 'Nobody feels safe when they hear the word Ice, even the documented people. We know that the neighborhood is full of a combination of those with and without documents,' Tesch said. 'If things are ripe, such as our neighbors have bell peppers here, (if) they don't harvest within two or three days, the crop is sunburned or over mature,' said Tesch. 'We need the labor.'
Japan Times
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Immigration raids leave crops unharvested and California farms at risk
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 U.S. 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 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the area's fields last month, part of U.S. President Donald Trump's migration 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." Guatemalan immigrants work on a crop field at a farm in Kern County, California, on June 19. | REUTERS In the vast agricultural lands north of Los Angeles, stretching from Ventura County into the state's central valley, two farmers, two field supervisors and four immigrant farmworkers said last month that the ICE raids have led a majority of workers to stop showing up. That means crops are not being picked and fruit and vegetables are rotting at peak harvest time, they said. One Mexican farm supervisor, who asked not to be named, was overseeing a field being prepared for planting strawberries last week. Usually he would have 300 workers, he said. On this day he had just 80. Another supervisor at a different farm said he usually has 80 workers in a field, but today just 17. Most economists and politicians acknowledge that many of America's agricultural workers are in the country illegally, but say a sharp reduction in their numbers could have devastating impacts on the food supply chain and farm-belt economies. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a Republican and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said an estimated 80% of farmworkers in the U.S. were foreign-born, with nearly half of them in the country illegally. Losing them will cause price hikes for consumers, he said. A field in Oxnard on June 21 | REUTERS "This is bad for supply chains, bad for the agricultural industry," Holtz-Eakin said. Over a third of U.S. vegetables and over three-quarters of the country's fruits and nuts are grown in California, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The state's farms and ranches generated nearly $60 billion in agricultural sales in 2023. Of the four immigrant farmworkers interviewed for this story, two are in the country illegally. These two spoke on the condition of anonymity, out of fear of being arrested by ICE. One, age 54, has worked in U.S. agricultural fields for 30 years and has a wife and children in the country. He said most of his colleagues have stopped showing up for work. "If they show up to work, they don't know if they will ever see their family again," he said. The other worker in the country illegally said, "Basically, we wake up in the morning scared. We worry about the sun, the heat, and now a much bigger problem — many not returning home. I try not to get into trouble on the street. Now, whoever gets arrested for any reason gets deported." Guatemalan immigrants carry supplies into a field at a farm in Kern County, California, on June 18. | REUTERS To be sure, some farmworker community groups said many workers were still returning to the fields, despite the raids, out of economic necessity. The days following a raid may see decreased attendance in the field, but the workers soon return because they have no other sources of income, five groups said. Workers are also taking other steps to reduce their exposure to immigration agents, like carpooling with people with legal status to work or sending U.S. citizen children to the grocery store, the groups said. Trump conceded in a post on his Truth Social account last month that ICE raids on farm workers — and also hotel workers — were "taking very good, long-time workers away" from those sectors, "with those jobs being almost impossible to replace." Trump later told reporters, "Our farmers are being hurt badly. They have very good workers." He added, "They're not citizens, but they've turned out to be great." He pledged to issue an order to address the impact, but no policy change has yet been enacted. Farmer Lisa Tate drives her car along crop fields in Oxnard on June 22. | REUTERS Trump has always stood up for farmers, said White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly in response to a request for comment on the impact of the ICE raids to farms. "He will continue to strengthen our agricultural industry and boost exports while keeping his promise to enforce our immigration laws," she said. Bernard Yaros, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics, a nonpartisan global economics advisory firm, said in a report published on June 26 that native-born workers tend not to fill the void left by immigrant workers who have left. "Unauthorized immigrants tend to work in different occupations than those who are native-born," he said. Immigrant workers harvest crops in Oxnard on June 22. | REUTERS ICE operations in California's farmland were scaring even those who are authorized, said Greg Tesch, who runs a farm in central California. "Nobody feels safe when they hear the word ICE, even the documented people. We know that the neighborhood is full of a combination of those with and without documents," Tesch said. "If things are ripe, such as our neighbors have bell peppers here, (if) they don't harvest within two or three days, the crop is sunburned or over mature," said Tesch. "We need the labor."
South China Morning Post
30-06-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Trump's ICE raids leave California crops unpicked as workers vanish
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 President Donald Trump's migration crackdown, have frightened off workers. 'In the fields, I would say 70 per cent of the workers are gone,' she said in an interview. 'If 70 per cent of your workforce doesn't show up, 70 per cent 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.' In the vast agricultural lands north of Los Angeles, stretching from Ventura County into the state's central valley, two farmers, two field supervisors and four immigrant farmworkers said that the ICE raids have led a majority of workers to stop showing up. That means crops are not being picked and fruit and vegetables are rotting at peak harvest time, they said. One Mexican farm supervisor, who asked not to be named, was overseeing a field being prepared for planting strawberries last week. Usually he would have 300 workers, he said. On this day he had just 80. Another supervisor at a different farm said he usually has 80 workers in a field, but today he had just 17.
