Immigration

In Carpinteria, U.S. Representative Salud Carbajal, a California Democrat, said he was denied access to the scene of the raid while seeking to exercise his oversight authority as a member of Congress, and that company officials later told him 10 workers were taken into custody at that location.

More than 50 ICE agents took part in the operation there, with crowd-control munitions deployed against members of the crowd in a “militarized raid targeting farm workers,” Carbajal said on X.

One of two city council members who were also present fell and injured her arm in a fracas between protesters and law enforcement, the Independent reported…

The Trump administration has shifted its position several times in recent weeks on whether farmworkers will be subject to its campaign to deport all immigrants who are in the country illegally.

Trump on June 14 ordered ICE to halt enforcement activities on farms, but the agency reversed that position days later. On July 3, Trump said he was willing to let migrant workers stay in the country if farmers can “vouch” for them. Days later Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said there would be “no amnesty” for farmworkers from deportation.

About half of U.S. farmworkers are in the country illegally, according to government estimates. The farm sector has warned that mass deportation of agricultural workers would cripple the nation’s food supply chain.

Trump’s immigration crackdown is taking a toll on the U.S. economy.
From small farms to corporate giants like Disney, businesses are scrambling to replace workers after recent admin actions have taken immigrants — both legal and undocumented — out of the labor force.

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— Politico (@politico.com) July 8, 2025 at 6:45 PM

Politico, on Tuesday — “Loss of foreign workers begins to bite US economy”:

From small farms in California, to meat packing facilities in Nebraska to corporate giants like Disney, businesses are scrambling to replace workers after recent administration actions have taken immigrants, both legal and illegal, out of the labor force, including several hundred thousand people who had been given temporary work permits under President Joe Biden.

That’s because foreign-born workers, or their relatives, have become critical in some labor sectors…

The emerging reports are the first signs of what economists and labor market experts had warned would result from Trump’s signature campaign issue, which has so far included revoking temporary legal status for several hundred thousand people who have been allowed to live and work in the U.S. in recent years without gaining citizenship.

Daily operations have been thrown into question for the cattle ranchers in Teagarden’s organization because employers have become reliant on workers who, even if not directly threatened by the administration’s actions, may be related to people who are.

“Am I going to have enough crew around tomorrow to get the cows milked and cows fed and everything done?” he said. “What’s my contingency plan to do the essentials, if not?”…

The administration exacerbated the situation Monday, revoking legal status for approximately 76,000 people from Honduras and Nicaragua — and eliminating their work authorizations. It had previously done so for Haitians, Afghans, Venezuelans and Cameroonians…

Tightening the labor market through strict immigration enforcement could permanently increase inflation, an Oxford Economics study from June finds, pointing to subsequent increases in production costs and lower output due to limited workers.

Uncertainty in the labor market could contribute to an “economic malaise,” said Stuart Anderson, executive director at the nonpartisan think tank National Foundation for American Policy.

“If you want to have a growing economy, you need to have a growing labor force,” Anderson said. “The idea that you are just going to create more opportunity by having fewer workers available just doesn’t work in practice, because that’s not the way business runs.”…