California farmers who placed their bets on Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election are now waiting anxiously to see if he is serious about his threat to round up undocumented immigrants after he enters the White House on Jan. 20th.
With the president-elect already having chosen immigration hardliner Thomas Homan as his "border czar" who has indicated he will start round-ups on "Day One," Politico is reporting, "California’s agricultural barons, who employ the most farm workers of any state in the nation and grow half the produce consumed in the United States, [are] nervously parsing Trump’s rhetoric."
According to Chris Reardon of the industry group California Farm Bureau Federation, "To say it would have an impact on California would be an understatement,” with Reardon admitting he is telling anxious farmers. "We just don't know yet" when they ask what is going to happen.
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Politico's Camille von Kaenel reported, "During his first term, Trump also said he wouldn’t go after workers in the food sector. But his administration still conducted raids at Mississippi poultry plants and Nebraska produce processing facilities, arresting hundreds of workers. The extent of Trump 2.0’s deportations efforts will determine how much California’s farmers could potentially sacrifice their water access to sway his immigration policies."
With Dave Puglia, CEO of the Western Growers Association, labeling possible raids by Homan's troops “very troubling,” he added that he hopes it won't affect farmworkers and will be limited instead to undocumented workers with criminal backgrounds.
“If that is indeed the focus of the administration’s effort, then I think most people would support that,” he explained while refusing to say who he voted for. “So there’s a little bit of a wait and see thing here.”
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