After more than 30 farm workers were recently detained in Ventura County, the agricultural communities in the area are living in fear and are being pushed into the shadows, a coalition of immigration advocacy groups said Thursday.
Of the 35 people detained, 23 were Mexican nationals, while the rest had a variety of nationals.
“Now, the community – they saw someone in uniform and they said, ‘Ice! Ice!”
Also, federal agents tried to inspect nine farms on Tuesday, but they were turned away for not having a warrant, said Lucas Zucker, co-executive director of the Central Cors Alliance for a Sustainable Economy.
“In all of them, the ice had no warrants, so the ice was turned away,” he said.
In addition to recent detention and raids, online rumors of unidentified assaults have promoted fear of the community. As such, community activists are reluctant to report crimes, fearing that undocumented immigrants are being pushed into the shadows.
“The job we do is to stand up to the cruel and inhumane policies that have come out of his administration,” Hernandez said.
A video posted on social media showed ice agents on the county’s farm and parking facilities. Dozens of migrant workers were taken into custody Tuesday morning, according to the Ventura County Farm Bureau.
However, President Donald Trump addressed the impact of immigration policies on the farm and hotel industries in a social media post, as he suggested local changes in immigration that have a major impact on the agricultural industries of California and across the United States.
“Our great farmers and people in hotel and leisure business have stated that very aggressive policies on immigration have kept the very good long-time workers away from them, and that it is almost impossible to trade those jobs,” Trump wrote. “Many times criminals are allowed to our country by the very stupid Biden Open Borders policy. We apply for these jobs. This is not good. We have to protect the farmers, but we will drive criminals out of America.”
To end his social media posts, Trump wrote, “A change is coming!” Without further details about possible changes.
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