Ag Alert October 21, 2026

Raids Continued from Page 1

adding that higher funding and staffing levels for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had appeared to increase the agency’s ability “to do multiple operations at a time.” Last year, Congress roughly tripled fund- ing for interior immigration enforcement and detention facilities. While the Trump administration in re- cent months mostly shifted away from the high-profile operations that characterized

detention. About 74% of those detained did not have a criminal record—also a record high—while around 25% had been convict- ed of a nonviolent crime and less than 2% had a conviction for a violent crime. For decades, California farmers have ad- vocated for legislation that would create a pathway to U.S. citizenship for longtime farmworkers and have warned that immi- gration raids in the state could threaten national food security. “California

Last year, isolated immigration raids in California farming regions, each of which lasted a few days at most, had a limited impact on production as work- ers generally returned to the fields soon after immigration agents left, according to experts. But growers said a prolonged operation, as has been reported to be taking place in the state through next month, could sig- nificantly disrupt food production. Herman, the fig grower, said he was con- cerned by news reports describing plans by the U.S. Department of Homeland Se- curity to conduct 45 days of ICE raids in California leading up to next month’s mid- term elections. About a tenth of his fig crop is waiting to be picked, and citrus harvest is set to begin this week. “That could be problematic for us if this continues on for another month,” Herman said. DHS declined to answer questions from Ag Alert ® about the objectives or timeframe of the reported immigration enforcement surge in the state. “For operational security and the safety of our officers, ICE will not disclose or dis- cuss law enforcement operations,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. Caleb Hampton is an editor at Ag Alert. He can be reached at champton@cfbf. com. Ag Alert staff writer Manola Secaira contributed reporting.

not report for work harvesting cantaloupe on his farm after immigration agents were seen in the area. “It slowed down our crew,” he said. “You need everyone to fulfill their part.” Del Bosque said melon harvest—which concluded last week—requires about 20 people trained to perform different jobs, such as driving a tractor, identifying ripe melons and picking them, packing the melons into boxes and stacking the boxes with a forklift. “These are skilled positions,” Del Bosque said. “If they don’t show up today, you can’t just go out and look for somebody on the street to replace them.” Immigration enforcement also ramped up this month in parts of South- ern California, the Central Coast and the Sacramento Valley, according to com- munity organizations. “This is absolutely out of the norm,” said Giselle Garcia, program director at Sacra- mento-based NorCal Resist, which oper- ates a rapid response hotline and assists people held in immigration detention in Northern California. Garcia said Friday that since the prior week the organization met or spoke direct- ly with nearly 20 newly detained people or their family members. “That is a huge increase,” she said,

its deportation efforts last year, overall immi- gration arrests climbed steadily this year. In July, the most recent month with data available, ICE arrests hit record highs both nationally and in Califor- nia, due largely to the agency

agriculture de- pends on and values its work- force,” Shan- non Douglass, president of the California Farm Bureau, said in a statement. “Farm employ- ees are not just workers—they are partners in this industry.” The state

“We are certainly seeing a dramatic uptick in activity over the last week or so ... The level of stress in many of our agricultural communities is really high.” —Heather Riden, program director at the Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety

detaining more immigrants without crim- inal convictions, according to federal data analyzed by the Deportation Data Project, which is based at the University of Califor- nia, Berkeley, and UCLA. That month, 41,786 people nationwide were arrested and booked into immigration

grows more than a third of the nation’s vegetables and about three-quarters of its fruits and nuts, with much of that produc- tion in the Central Valley. The sector relies on hundreds of thousands of farmworkers, more than half of whom are estimated to be undocumented.

What Matters. UNIFIED WINE & GRAPE SYMPOSIUM JANUARY 2628, 2027 EXHIBITS: JANUARY 2728 SAFE CREDIT UNION CONVENTION CENTER SACRAMENTO, CA

BY THE INDUSTRY, FOR THE INDUSTRY

10 Ag Alert October 21, 2026