Hiding in the fields - farm workers fearing deportation stay in California's shadows

The women crouch down motionless, kneeling betwixt endless rows of effect bushes, astir hidden from view.

"Are you from ICE?" 1 of the women, a workplace idiosyncratic successful a chapeau and purple bandana, asks america fearfully.

After assuring her that we're not with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has been raiding adjacent farms and arresting workers implicit the past week, she straightens her back, rising somewhat retired of the dirt.

"Have you seen immoderate ICE vans? Are determination patrol cars retired there?" she asks, inactive unsure if we tin beryllium trusted and she tin emerge.

The woman, an undocumented migrant from Mexico, has been picking berries successful Oxnard, California since arriving successful the US 2 years ago. It's a municipality which boasts of being the "strawberry superior of the world".

As her enactment displacement ended connected Wednesday, she and her co-workers hid successful the fields, waiting to beryllium picked up by a person and unsure whether it was harmless to task retired into the parking lot.

On the erstwhile day, 9 farms successful the Oxnard country were visited by ICE agents, accidental section activists, but without hunt warrants they were denied introduction and alternatively picked up radical connected the adjacent streets, arresting 35.

The workplace raids are portion of President Donald Trump's extremity of arresting 3,000 undocumented immigrants per day. On the run way helium had vowed to deport noncitizens accused of convulsive crimes, a committedness that received wide support, adjacent among immoderate Hispanics.

But successful Los Angeles determination was a nationalist backlash and thoroughfare protests that sometimes turned violent, prompting him to controversially nonstop successful the subject to the 2nd largest metropolis successful the US.

"They dainty america similar criminals, but we lone came present to enactment and person a amended life," says the woman, who near her children down successful Mexico 2 years agone and hopes to instrumentality to them adjacent year.

"We don't privation to permission the location anymore. We don't privation to spell to the store. We're acrophobic they'll drawback us."

Large-scale raids connected workplaces successful California's cultivation heartland haven't been seen for the past 15 years, says Lucas Zucker, a assemblage organiser successful California's Central Coast region.

But that seems to person changed this past week.

"They are conscionable sweeping done migrant communities similar Oxnard indiscriminately, looking for anyone they tin find to conscionable their politically-driven quotas," helium says.

More than 40% of US farmworkers are undocumented immigrants, according to a 2022 study by the US Department of Agriculture. In California, much than 75% are undocumented, according to the University of California, Merced.

Raids astatine farms and businesses that trust connected the cultivation manufacture passim California, and crossed the full country, person ramped up this month.

The arrests person raised fears of shortages to America's nutrient supply, if the migrants are arrested oregon forced into hiding, acrophobic to travel to work.

This interaction has not been mislaid connected the White House. Despite winning the predetermination decisively aft promising wide deportations, Trump connected Thursday acknowledged the pugnacious clip his crackdown is inflicting connected the farming sector.

"Our farmers are being wounded badly. You know, they person precise bully workers. They've worked for them for 20 years. They're not citizens, but they've turned retired to be, you know, great."

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In April, helium said that immoderate migrants whitethorn beryllium authorised to proceed moving successful the US, connected the information that they person a ceremonial proposal from their leader and that they archetypal permission the US.

The effect of 1 raid connected Tuesday successful Oxnard, a municipality 60 miles (100km) from downtown Los Angeles, tin beryllium seen successful a video posted to Instagram by a section angiosperm merchant.

The abbreviated clip shows a antheral moving successful a immense tract of crops, done a haze of heavy greeting fog, arsenic agents springiness pursuit connected ft and successful trucks. He is past seen falling to the ground, among the rows of plants, arsenic agents determination to apprehension him.

When the BBC visited Oxnard connected Wednesday, a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) motortruck was seen parked extracurricular an integrated nutrient trucking company. A information defender insisted their sojourn was not related to immigration, saying: "This is not ICE. We would ne'er fto ICE successful here."

Many tractors and trucks sat idle surrounded by acres of farmland, arsenic an chartless fig of workers chose to enactment home.

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The interaction is having ripple effects connected different businesses. Watching from her family's Mexican restaurant, Raquel Pérez saw masked CBP agents effort to participate Boskovich Farms, a rootlike and herb packing installation crossed the street.

Now her business, Casa Grande Cafe, has lone 1 lawsuit during the usually engaged luncheon hour, due to the fact that workplace workers person stayed home. She estimates that astatine slightest fractional of her mean clientele are undocumented.

"No 1 came successful today," says her mother, Paula Pérez. "We're each connected edge."

Raquel says she's much acrophobic present for the aboriginal of the edifice - serving chilaquiles, flan, and different Mexican delicacies - than she was during Covid, erstwhile her customers continued their enactment arsenic usual, keeping the federation supplied with caller foods.

"They don't realise the domino effect this is going to have," she says astir the raids. Other companies astir her that trust connected agriculture person already been affected. The adjacent concern buying and selling woody pallets is closed, and a section car mechanic too.

"If the strawberries oregon vegetables aren't picked, that means there's gonna beryllium thing coming into the packing houses. Which means there's not gonna beryllium nary trucks to instrumentality the stuff."

A migrant selling strawberries from his motortruck connected the broadside of the roadworthy says the raids person already had a devastating effect - connected some his concern and his hopes of becoming a ineligible nonmigratory of the US.

"Fewer radical are going retired for trips, and they bargain little from me," says Óscar, who comes from the Mexican authorities of Tlaxcala and, portion undocumented himself, has children who were calved successful the US.

"I'm scared, but I can't halt going retired to work. I person to supply for my family," helium says.

Óscar says helium has been moving to finalise his migration status, but with ICE agents present waiting extracurricular courthouses for migrants seeking to process paperwork, he's unsure of what to bash next.

"There aren't galore ways near to beryllium present legally."