Amid peak harvest season in California, a wave of immigration enforcement is leaving fields bare and crops rotting. In the fertile farmlands of Ventura County and beyond, early July ICE raids have sent shockwaves through the agricultural workforce—many of whom are undocumented but vital to the food supply chain.

Lisa Tate, a sixth-generation farmer, paints a stark picture: “In the fields, I would say 70% of the workers are gone. If 70% of your workforce doesn’t show up, 70% of your crop doesn’t get picked—and it can go bad in one day.”

Why it matters:

California produces more than a third of the nation’s vegetables and over 75% of its fruits and nuts. In 2023 alone, the state generated nearly $60 billion in agricultural sales. But ICE raids—part of President Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigration—are hitting farm operations hard.

Supervisors across multiple farms report similar scenes:

• A strawberry field that usually needs 300 workers had only 80.

• Another farm had just 17 workers show up out of the usual 80.

Many workers are too afraid to return. One undocumented farmworker told reporters, “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.”

Ripple effects for all:

According to Republican economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, roughly 80% of U.S. farmworkers are foreign-born, and nearly half are undocumented. A rapid reduction in this labor pool could lead to higher prices at the grocery store and serious strain on farm-belt economies.

Even documented workers are wary. “Nobody feels safe when they hear the word ICE,” said one California farm owner. “Even the documented people are nervous. If the crop is ripe and doesn’t get picked within days, it’s lost.”

Trump’s response?

Acknowledging the problem, Trump admitted on Truth Social that ICE is removing “very good, long-time workers.” He pledged to issue an order to help—but so far, no policy shift has followed.