America's migrant workers are terrified to work but unable to stay home
New York
CNN —
In the early morning on Tuesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents chased farmworkers through a field in Oxnard, California.
Agents tackled and restrained workers amid rows of produce, as seen in video from CNN affiliate KABC.
'What I fear is that sometimes, out of necessity, we show up wherever there's work,' one farmworker with her face covered told KABC in Spanish. 'With everything that is happening it's a bit difficult for us.'
ICE, racing to fulfill President Donald Trump's goal to increase deportations, has increasingly targeted work sites for immigration sweeps in recent weeks. The escalation is creating a chilling effect on the businesses that rely on immigrant labor and the workers themselves, with some staying home out of fear. America's agriculture, construction, health care and hospitality industries are powered by immigrant workers, both legal and undocumented.
'Recent immigration enforcement raids on businesses nationwide are creating serious challenges for local economies, communities, and industries that depend on immigrant labor to operate and prosper,' said Rebecca Shi, the CEO of American Business Immigration Coalition, a group representing employers with immigrants.
Undocumented immigrants make up 4% to 5% of the total US workforce, but 15% to 20% or more in industries such as crop production, food processing and construction, according to Goldman Sachs.
United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero told CNN that she's been getting calls from concerned farmworkers across California about ICE crackdowns in the state. There are 2.4 million farmworkers in the United States, according to the Economic Policy Institute, 40% of whom the Agriculture Department estimates lack legal status.
Farmworkers on a field in March near the US-Mexico border in Calexico, California. Undocumented workers make up an estimated 40% of farmworkers in the United States.Despite the threat of deportation, migrant workers often can't afford to stay home, Romero said.
'They're terrified, but they have a family to support. They have a rent to pay, they have children to take to school, buy clothing and everything,' she said. 'They have to tell their children what to do if they don't come home.'
Trump appeared to acknowledge Thursday that his immigration policies are straining farmers and businesses.
'Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,' Trump said on Truth Social. 'We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!'
But some farm owners worry that the Trump administration's current crackdown on undocumented immigrants will affect the nation's ability to produce food, Romero said.
'I can guarantee you that we're not going to have the workers that we need to do this work in agriculture,' she said. 'The agriculture industry in this country is going to disappear.'
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told reporters on Thursday that she's already getting reports of people not going to work and store shelves being empty because people in the city are worried about being detained by ICE.
Los Angeles' immigrant community is essential to the city's economy, she added.
'There are entire sectors of our economy that will not function if the immigrant community is too afraid to go to work and too afraid to go to school,' Bass said.
Workplace sweeps
Mass workplace immigration raids were a priority during Trump's first term, culminating in at least 680 arrests during a 2019 raid on chicken processing plants in Mississippi. The Biden administration ended the practice, saying employers exploited the raids to suppress workers from reporting labor violations.
But ICE has stepped up sweeps again in recent weeks on industries that rely heavily on immigrant workers. That includes a local construction company in Exeter, Pennsylvania; construction sites in Brownsville, Texas; and a flood control project in New Orleans. ICE arrested about 40 people in Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, two prominent vacation spots in Massachusetts, last month.
CNN asked ICE how many raids have been made under Trump's second term. The agency acknowledged CNN's request but did not respond to the question.
'Worksite enforcement operations are going to massively expand,' White House border czar Tom Homan said in an interview with Semafor on Wednesday.
Detaining employees can have a significant impact on small businesses.
For example, after authorities took dozens of workers away in buses following a raid at an Omaha meat production plant Tuesday morning, the plant was left running at about 30% capacity.
The restaurant industry employs 1 million undocumented workers, or 10% of the total workforce, according to the Center for Migration Studies. It would be difficult for some restaurants to run without undocumented workers.
'The reality is … there clearly are not enough people in the United States who are authorized to work to fill all the available jobs,' said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the not-for-profit group NYC Hospitality Alliance. 'And because of that, you have people that have come to our country for many different reasons that are not authorized to work but find their way into the workforce to meet the needs and demands of United States citizens.'
Home Depot becomes a flash point
Arrests of migrant workers outside one business have become a flash point for opponents of Trump's immigration crackdown: Home Depot.
Day laborers have long gathered outside the parking lots of Home Depot or similar retailers to find work. Home Depot, in particular, is a convenient spot for contractors and homeowners in many communities to approach and hire laborers to paint walls, nail down roofing and complete other manual labor projects. Day laborers are often paid in cash, and many return to these locations every day in hope of getting more work.
Immigration agents conducted a sweep Friday outside a Home Depot in Westlake, Los Angeles, setting off days of protests around the city. Trump deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles, overriding California Governor Gavin Newsom.
A Home Depot store in Westlake, California. Home Depot parking lots have long been convenient spots for day laborers to find work.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images
Home Depot told CNN that it is not notified when immigration officials and law enforcement conduct sweeps and that the company is not involved in the operations.
The retail chain has been a target of immigration arrests — and protests — well before last week.
In a raid on a Home Depot in Pomona, California, in April, 10 undocumented immigrants were detained, a senior official from the Department of Homeland Security told CNN. That led to a protest outside Home Depot among advocates for day laborers.
'Construction companies, contractors, private homeowners — they have historically gone to the Home Depot to buy their materials and then they come outside and hire a day laborer,' Alexis Teodoro, the worker rights director for the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center, a non-profit that helps day laborers find work and job training, told CNN at the time. 'This is common knowledge and is almost as American as apple pie now.'
CNN's Stephanie Elam, Elise Hammond and Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this story.
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