Americans will feel effects of immigration enforcement on farms, union president warns

As immigration enforcement ramps up, the head of the United Farm Workers (UFW) union says agriculture workers across the country are afraid to show up for work — and warned that fear could impact households across the country.

This week, federal agents reportedly swept through farms in California. Last month, immigration agents stopped a bus in upstate New York and detained more than a dozen farm workers. The union, which represents thousands of workers across the country, says such incidents are becoming more common.

"Even though they're terrified, they're scared, they're showing up to work," Teresa Romero, president of the United Farm Workers union, told Morning Edition. "They need to pay the rent, they need to pay the utilities, they need to feed their family."

On Tuesday, UFW – founded by civil rights activist Cesar Chavez – called on agricultural employers to "harden" their worksites by educating workers and staff about their rights as well as legal requirements for law enforcement to enter worksites.

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The federal government estimates that around 40% of crop farmworkers lack work authorization.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security declined to confirm the raids to NPR. The agency also did not respond to specific questions from Morning Edition about enforcement actions targeting farmworkers. Meanwhile, the FBI posted on social media about assisting in recent immigration operations.

Romero discussed the reported immigration enforcement actions on farms and how these may impact kitchen tables across the country.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Martinez: Tell us about what you know about these raids. Who exactly is being arrested?

Romero: In California, we have received numerous calls from farm workers, from community members saying that vehicles from immigration are throughout the agricultural area, and that has created a lot of intimidation, stress, distrust, and it is just very sad, because they're going after people who work very hard, who are not criminals, and they are responsible for putting food on our table.

Teresa Romero, president of United Farm Workers, speaks at a news conference at Balletto Vineyards in Santa Rosa, Calif., Friday, April 26, 2024.

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Martinez: Have you heard if people are afraid to go to work, or just have stopped showing up to work at all because they're concerned?

Romero: Terrified is a better word to describe it. However, we need to remember that farm workers have seasonal jobs. They need to pay the rent, they need to pay the utilities, they need to feed their family. So even though they're terrified [and] they're scared, they're showing up to work.

Martinez: We did ask the Department of Homeland Security to confirm that the raids happened, but a spokesperson declined to answer our questions. Now, your union advised agricultural employers to harden work sites. What does that mean? What does it mean to harden a work site?

Romero: We need to make sure that if ICE is going to show up, right now there's no transparency on what they're doing. So they're driving, they see people, to be honest with you, they see people of color, see brown people. They're just taking them. We don't know who they are. We don't, they don't know why. They don't have a search warrant. So we're trying to make sure that they understand that they need to do it in a way that is legal. Just show up and go into the fields to do whatever they want, you know, that's not constitutional. That's not who we are as a country.

Martinez: But why should employers help workers without legal status? Why not tell employers to cooperate with authorities?

Romero: What we need to make sure is that everybody is afforded their constitutional rights. If you are going to take me, it's because you have an arrest warrant. You have some document that a judge has signed that says that you can take me.

Martinez: Do you have specific examples of what happens to farms after ICE comes and arrests workers?

Romero: We have spoken with some employers that said they let the workers go. They were terrified. We had spoken with people that said the next day, only half of the workers showed up, but then the day after, everybody is there. We have spoken with small farms that say, if they come to my farm – and if we have here undocumented workers and they take him – I'm going to be out of business.

Martinez: Trump did say, though, as a candidate, that if he became president, there would be mass deportations. So how surprised should we be at what we're seeing?

Romero: Very surprised because he said that he would be deporting criminals. And let me tell you where you find the criminals: in prisons. They have been given the opportunity to be charged, tried, found guilty by the jury and sentenced by a judge. They have already went through the process that we all should go through when we're charged with something. He did say that he was going to deport criminals. He's not deporting criminals. He's deporting hardworking farm workers.

Martinez: President Trump posted on social media about farmers. "Our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them…. This is not good." What do you make of that quote?

Romero: You know, that's a statement. He makes several statements on social media. I'm the type of person, my saying is: show, don't tell. If he believes that, and he's in charge, he can stop these raids right now.

Martinez: What do you hope that in a couple of months, that we can all kind of figure out what has happened?

Romero: You know, I would hope that people would understand and would put themselves in the position of these hard-working people, but if they don't want to do it for the benefit of human beings and their families, then they need to start thinking about what is going to happen when they go to the market the next time. Right now, every time you go to the market, you find your fruits, your vegetables, your dairy, your meat, your chicken. There is going to be a time when they're not going to be there, and whatever is there is going to be very expensive.

I wish they would think about the human loss, but if they don't want to think about that, those are going to be the consequences, and there's going to be crops rotting in the fields. And again, this is something that Trump can stop right now.

The radio version of this story was edited by Mohamad ElBardicy. Obed Manuel contributed to and produced the digital version.
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