Farmers under threat: a raid against dozens of migrants in California spreads fear of the Trump era | Immigration in the United States
The US Border Patrol made a series of surprise arrests and deportations in Bakersfield, California last week. According to the Customs and Border Protection Office, the operation between January 6 and 8 in this agricultural city left 78 people of seven different nationalities detained. But the country’s largest agricultural workers union suspects that the real number of people affected may be higher than officially reported. The United Agricultural Workers (UFW) organization believes that the police operation, in which dozens of ground and air agents participated, was intended to intimidate Latino workers. In fact, the UFW denounces that among those detained there were even American citizens and legal residents, as reported this Thursday at a press conference. They also announced that at least 50 of those detained have been deported to Mexico.
The raids occur before President-elect Donald Trump takes office this Monday. The promise to carry out mass deportations of immigrants was one of the strong points of the Republican’s campaign. This operation in a city whose population is mostly Latino raises alarms about what may come in the coming months.
The information obtained by the UFW organization through various sources suggests a greater number of detainees. “We received a report from a rancher who estimates that at least 30 of his workers were detained,” said Ambar Tovar, director of legal services at the UFW Foundation, during the press conference. “An individual also commented that he was detained in a van with at least 36 people during the first day of the operation,” he added.
For Tovar, what happened “was a scare tactic to terrorize farm workers and the immigrant community on their way to and from work.” UFW directors explained that this operation, called Return to senderwas the first of this magnitude carried out by the Border Patrol in the area: “We counted more than 50 agents mobilized, in addition to patrols, vans and helicopters.”
“The majority of those arrested were farm workers. In smaller numbers, we also have construction workers, yard workers, and others without permanent employment,” said Areli Arteaga, director of Policy and Legislation of the union. The information they have is that around 50 people have already been repatriated to Mexico. “We are certain because we received it from a very secure source. What we know and suspect is that the majority would have signed their voluntary departure,” he said.
The UFW is in contact with some of the detained people who were later released to investigate whether their rights were violated during the process. “Despite the Border Patrol’s demonstrably false claim that this raid targeted criminals, we believe it went much further than that. It breaks our hearts to share that two members of the UFW were arrested and are now in Mexico. Both members had lived and worked in the United States for more than 15 years. “One leaves behind two children under the age of 10, and the other leaves behind four children between the ages of four and 10.”
Antonio De Loera-Brust, UFW Communications Director, assured that among those initially detained “there were citizens and legal residents of Hispanic origin, which indicates that to a certain extent the arrests were based on the appearance of the people.” He added that, at this time, the community feels scared: “There is a feeling of anxiety about the possibility of being separated from their families. But at the same time, you have to keep working. While they are feeding this country, farmers feel under threat.”
