California’s Central Valley growers and farmworkers fear mass deportations if Trump wins election

FRESNO, Calif. — Farm laborers and growers in the Central Valley and California fear former President Donald J. Trump’s aggressive plans for mass deportations and immigration crackdown would upend lives and destabilize the region’s ag economy.

The uncertainty rippling across the Valley’s undocumented immigrant community ahead of Tuesday’s election is akin to the anxiety many of them felt when Trump won the 2016 election. This time, however, the former president says he plans to “launch the largest deportation program in American history.”

Trump has said that, if elected, he intends to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which was last used during World War II, to target criminals who are in the country illegally. He would also attempt to expand a removal process that does not require due process hearings, build giant camps to detain people awaiting deportation and end birthright citizenship, the New York Times reported.

Nearly 1 in 3 Latinos are either undocumented or live in a mixed-status family with an undocumented Hispanic individuals and are at risk of deportation or family separation, according to FWD.us, a bipartisan political organization.

Trump’s mass deportation plans would likely have a significant impact in California, one of the states with the highest number of individuals living in mixed-status or undocumented households.

Nearly 4 million Latinos in the state would be affected by Trump’s mass deportation plan, according to FWD.us.

Trump’s proposals would likely face legal, financial and political challenges. The American Immigration Council, for instance, projects the cost of a one-time mass deportation operation is at least $315 billion, an estimate the council described as “highly conservative.”

Mike Madrid, a Latino GOP political consultant and co-founder of the Lincoln Project, said voters should not dismiss Trump’s mass deportations comments and need to take his plans seriously.

“The question isn’t whether or not they could deport everybody all at once, but whether they’re gonna start a culture of continually seeking out and finding those who are here undocumented and deporting them. That’s the big problem,” Madrid said.

Madrid said mass deportations not only would disrupt the economy, but would cast a devastating toll on families and individuals.

“We don’t like to be honest about this as Americans, but the entire economy is predicated on undocumented labor. Without undocumented labor, the economy doesn’t work. That’s just a reality,” Madrid said.

Worry in the fields

Talks of mass deportation have spread anxiety across the fields in the Central Valley, where a majority of farmworkers are undocumented.

Sandra Garcia, a Central Valley resident who’s worked more than 40 years in the fields and is president and founder of Campesinas Unidas del Valle de San Joaquin, said Trump’s campaign promises “worry us a lot.”

Garcia is concerned about the undocumented farmworkers in the Valley, including her sister, if Trumps wins and makes good of his promise.

Garcia said her sister has been working in the fields for many years and finally was able to get a work permit through the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which provides a special pathway to lawful immigration status for victims of domestic abuse.

“There are many people like my sister who are getting their documents sorted out, others already have their permits, their children also have DACA, but the majority of farm workers do not have documents,” Garcia said in Spanish.

Garcia said if Trump’s mass deportation proposals become a reality, “it will not only affect the farm workers who do not have documents, but also the farms, which will be left without workers.”

That potential reality weighs on the mind of commercial grower Joe Del Bosque, who is particularly concerned about the impact mass deportations would have on Valley growers with hand-picked crops like melons, cherries, and tomatoes.

“I don’t know if he (Trump) understands that a mass deportation may include a lot of our farmworkers who are essential to our food chain,” said Del Bosque, owner of Empresas Del Bosque farm in western Fresno County near Firebaugh. “Farmworkers are some of the least understood people among our politicians.”

Del Bosque, who politically identifies as centrist, said growers need to publicly voice their concerns about mass deportations.

“We can’t plant and harvest crops like melons and cherries and tomatoes without these people,” Del Bosque said.

Del Bosque is no stranger to advocating for immigration reform. He said he worked on the stalled bipartisan bill Farm Workforce Modernization Act in 2019, which aimed to provide a path to immigration status for agricultural workers.

Del Bosque has also seen the impact of past deportation sweeps. He recalled that it took growers months to recover from a labor shortage following a wave of deportations during the Obama administration.

“We have to have a stable workforce,” Del Bosque said.

Worry in California

Political leaders and immigration advocates vow to fight mass deportations if Trump wins a second term.

Manuel Cunha, President of the Fresno-based Nisei Farmers League, said he plans to “fight (Trump) to the bitter end if he does that to the working people that have been here for years.” Cunha has a long history of lobbying for farmers and advocating for immigration reform.

“I will fight and do everything we have to do to protect these workers, and if that means a massive food strike in this country and a shutdown by the farmers, the shipping companies, the trucking industry, to show that we are not going to take this anymore, then so be it,” Cunha said.

Undocumented Californians contribute nearly $8.5 billion in taxes annually, playing a crucial role in supporting public services in state and local communities, according to California Budget & Policy Center, a research and analysis nonprofit.

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., condemned Trump’s attacks on the Latino community and his renewed pledge to separate millions of undocumented individuals and mixed-status families.

“As the son of immigrants, I know what it means to build a life, a family, and a future here in America,” Padilla said in an Oct. 29 press call. “Right now, 20 million Latino families and millions more friends, neighbors, and coworkers face the devastating threat of forced separation. Trump’s plan to tear apart lives, families, and communities that have been rooted here for decades will devastate our country and our economy.”

U.S. Congressman John Duarte, R-Modesto, recently introduced the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act, legislation that would provide a pathway to legal status for certain undocumented immigrants and calls for strengthening the border with Mexico.

When asked about how Trump’s mass deportation plans would affect the Central Valley if Trump wins, Duarte said the bill he introduced would “provide protections to thousands of hardworking families who follow the law, pay taxes, and work hard to achieve the American Dream.”

“It would protect those who have been in the country for more than five years from deportation and create a flexible guest worker program in which more recent immigrants can participate,” Duarte said in an email.

Janet Murguía, president of the nonprofit UnidosUS Action Fund, said Trump’s proposed expansion of his 2018 “zero-tolerance” policy “would devastate the economy and make every American less safe and less secure.”

“We must choose policies that are firm, fair, and free of cruelty and reject extremist, divisive, destructive, and draconian schemes like Zero Tolerance,” Murguia said.

Garcia, the longtime farm laborer, said that while there is a lot of concern among farmworkers about Trump’s mass deportation threats, many older farmworkers with legal status support Trump.

Still, Garcia takes Trump’s campaign promises seriously and fears that a second term would usher a giant cloud of uncertainty for the state’s millions of undocumented people and their families.

“People are worried because they don’t know how Trump’s words are going to affect them,” Garcia said. “They don’t know what to do and are thinking, ‘What can happen? Are they going to send me and my children to Mexico? The children have lived here all their lives.'”

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