ICE's recent crackdown on undocumented immigrants has created deep disruptions for American farmers. Lisa Tate, a sixth-generation farmer in Ventura County, California—an area producing billions of dollars in fruits and vegetables annually, much of it hand-picked by undocumented immigrants—described the impact bluntly:

“In the fields, I would say 70% of the workers are gone,” she said in an interview. “If 70% of your workforce doesn’t show up, 70% of your crop doesn’t get picked and can go bad in one day. Most Americans don’t want to do this work. Most farmers here are barely breaking even. I fear this has created a tipping point where many will go bust. If things are ripe—like our neighbors’ bell peppers—they’ll go bad in two or three days if not harvested. We need the labor.”

In California’s vast agricultural region north of Los Angeles, two farm owners, two field supervisors, and four immigrant farmworkers told Reuters that ICE raids had caused most workers to stay home. This meant crops were left unpicked and rotting in the fields during peak harvest.

One farm owner said he usually has 300 workers, but only 80 showed up on the day of the raids. Another, who typically employs 80 fieldworkers, had just 17 report to work.

Among the four immigrant farmworkers interviewed, two were undocumented. They spoke anonymously and said that most of their undocumented colleagues had stopped working, fearing they may never see their families again if caught.

However, many of these undocumented immigrants are expected to return to the fields once enforcement pressure eases, as they have no other source of income. They are also taking precautions—carpooling with legal residents or sending U.S. citizen children to shop in public.

Crackdown May Lead to Soaring Food Prices — Trump Softens Stance

Most economists and policymakers acknowledge that many U.S. farm workers are undocumented immigrants. They warn that a sharp drop in this workforce could severely disrupt the agricultural sector and the broader food supply chain. California alone produces over one-third of U.S. vegetables and three-fourths of its fruits.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, noted that about 80% of U.S. farm workers are foreign-born, nearly half of whom are undocumented. Losing them would likely cause a significant spike in crop prices.

Even Trump has admitted that some undocumented immigrants are highly skilled farm laborers, and that the raids are harming American farmers. He has pledged to issue an executive order to ease the impact, though no action has been taken so far.

Hoping U.S. citizens will fill the labor gap left by undocumented workers is unrealistic. Bernard Yaros, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics, stated in a June 26 report that native-born workers tend not to replace immigrant labor. Unauthorized immigrants typically hold different jobs than native-born citizens, he noted.