Fear of increased ICE raids has already weighed on the nation’s agricultural sector, prompting concerns that food prices could soar in the near future as a result of Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies.Last week, Bakersfield, California, saw a huge drop in the number of farm workers showing up for work after Border Patrol agents in unmarked “Chevrolet Suburban” were patrolling and detaining immigrants in the area, profiling individuals they believed were field workers, CalMatters reported.* The end result: acres of unpicked oranges, baking under the California sun at the height of the season.
Bakersfield is a small part of California’s Central Valley, which produces roughly a quarter of the country’s food. Kern County, where Bakersfield is located, has been ranked among the top three agricultural counties in the country for the past few years, largely thanks to undocumented workers, who CalMatters says make up more than half of the county’s workforce.
During a three-day operation in Kern County, undocumented workers were targeted as they entered and exited gas stations, ate breakfast, went to Home Depots, or drove on Interstate 99, leaving many with no choice but to simply stay home.
“We’re in the middle of the citrus harvest right now,” Casey Creamer, president of the California Citrus Mutual trade group, told CalMatters. “It’s sent shockwaves through the community. People aren’t going to work, and kids aren’t going to school. Yesterday about 25 percent of the workforce and today 75 percent did not show up.”
According to Richard S. Gearhart, an associate professor of economics at California State University, Bakersfield, who spoke to the nonprofit news outlet, said the loss of most of America’s agricultural workforce overnight is a recipe for “absolute economic devastation.”
“If this is the new long-term normal, it’s a recession-level event,” Gearhart said, arguing that the end result of Trump’s policies will be felt in grocery store checkout lines across America.
The 47th president has effectively promised a full-scale crackdown on immigration over the next four years that includes attacking birthright citizenship and ordering high-profile ICE raids across the country against undocumented immigrants — moves that could cripple the backbone of the country’s agricultural workforce.
But just two days into the administration’s term The immigration crackdown appears to be relatively unfettered. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would rescind an Obama-era directive, immediately allowing the immigration agency to detain people in sensitive areas such as hospitals, places of worship, courtrooms, funerals and weddings.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” a spokesperson fo