The Coalition of Agricultural Workers International (CAWI) denounces the Trump regime’s oppressive migrant deportation policy, which has subjected thousands of agricultural workers to increased vulnerability to abuse and rights violations.
On June 13, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided farms in Ventura County, California – a major agricultural region – and detained undocumented immigrant agricultural workers. This action follows President Donald Trump’s push to carry out his campaign vow of implementing the largest deportation efforts in the country’s history, targeting 3,000 deportations daily.
The president reversed his earlier order to pause the immigration crackdown on agriculture and hotel industries, days after the announcement. The backtrack suggests conflict among the president’s advisers on the issue and concerns about negative impacts on businesses. For agricultural workers, the temporary exemptions did not provide relief, given the continued raids on their communities.
Systemic exploitation in US agriculture
The US food system depends on the labor of 2.9 million agricultural workers. US government data shows that a significant portion (42%) of hired immigrant crop workers lack legal immigration status, with California having the highest share of the unauthorized immigrant workforce.
Currently, the H-2A visa program grants pathways for immigrant workers to work legally in the US on a temporary basis. H-2A workers comprise at least 10% of the crop farm workforce.
Immigrant agricultural workers already suffer from low wages and inhumane working conditions. They work under high temperatures exacerbated by climate change and face high levels of pesticide exposure; yet they lack access to healthcare and legal protection. The deportation process has stripped away their dignity, adding insult to injury.
Broader impacts
The policy will also impact the American public due to the labor shortage it is expected to create. Food price spikes and small farm closures are already foreseen. Unfair immigration policies contribute to an erratic agricultural and trade policy that favors corporate industrial agriculture over local, sustainable food production.
Reforms to the hiring and employment of and benefit systems for agricultural laborers and the migrant community are urgent and should be an indispensable part of a complete overhaul of food systems built from the exploitation of agricultural workers.
Our demands
CAWI calls for an immediate halt to Trump’s migrant deportation policy, as it fails to solve the issue of migration and only exacerbates racial discrimination experienced by migrant workers in the US. Without addressing the root causes of forced migration – landlessness, joblessness, and low wages – peoples from the Global South will continue to risk everything by working in rich countries like the US despite draconian deportation policies.
Agricultural workers, united across borders, will not allow the cruel and inhumane deportation policies targeting our communities. These policies unleash terror through raids and mass expulsions, violently tearing families apart, destabilizing the rural communities we sustain, and violating our fundamental rights and dignity. The deliberate expansion of programs blurring lines between local police and immigration enforcement fosters racial profiling, deepens fear, and destroys the trust essential for community safety. The horrific conditions within detention centers and the systematic denial of due process are unacceptable abuses.
CAWI demands an immediate end to mass deportations, the termination of programs involving local police in immigration enforcement, the closure of detention facilities, and the dismantling of agencies that perpetuate this systemic cruelty. Agricultural labor feeds nations. Agricultural workers, documented or not, deserve respect, protection, and guaranteed basic human rights. Policies built on fear and enforcement must be replaced by those upholding our shared humanity and the basic dignity of all who work the land.
Finally, it is imperative to create a world where there are equal opportunities for all, eliminating the need for working peoples to migrate from their home countries to work overseas. Agricultural workers, alongside all oppressed peoples of the world, must remain steadfast in their call for the protection and promotion of their economic and political rights, and truly realize genuine and people-centered development. ###
Reference: P.P. Sivapragasam, Secretary General secretariat@agriworkers.org
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