VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. (KGTV) — Ventura County farmworkers are avoiding work and living in terror following immigration enforcement actions that have disrupted the $2 billion agricultural industry, according to local advocates and city leaders.
Federal agents were captured on video, posted to Instagram, chasing workers through the fields of Oxnard on June 10, with approximately 40 people detained according to local officials.
"Unfortunately, on June 10, a lot of that fear came true when we had ICE raids," said Dr. Martita Martinez-Bravo, a Camarillo City Councilwoman and Executive Director of Friends of Fieldworkers. "We know for sure that farm workers have not been showing up to work, or if they show up, they are experiencing tremendous fear and terror."
As the first woman of color elected to the Camarillo City Council, Martinez-Bravo leads a nonprofit that supports farmworker families in the region. She noted that Ventura County employs over 42,000 farm workers who help contribute to a $2 billion agricultural industry.
The impact of the federal immigration enforcement has extended beyond the fields, according to Martinez-Bravo. Children of farmworkers have been kept home from school, missing important milestones.
"Children were unable to say goodbye to their teachers, to their classmates. Many did not attend graduations or promotions," Martinez-Bravo said.
She says, even more concerning, are reports of families avoiding medical care due to deportation fears.
"We have a farm worker family with a baby who had a high fever, and they were so terrified to go into the clinic or to seek medical care," Martinez-Bravo said. "We had heard of another family whose child had a fracture, and even with that, they were just so terrified to go in and to receive medical care."
Martinez-Bravo says the agricultural consequences could soon be felt beyond Ventura County.
"If farm workers continue to not show up, crops are going to rot," Martinez-Bravo said.
While the visible presence of federal agents has decreased since the June raid, policy changes from the Trump administration have created uncertainty and fear.
"You're told one thing one day and told another thing another day. You know, it's like being the child of an abusive parent in an abusive relationship, and I feel that in a sense, we are under an abusive administration," Martinez-Bravo said.
Despite the fear, many workers continue to show up in the fields out of necessity to support their families.
Martinez-Bravo offered a reminder to consumers.
"So every time you take a bite out of that strawberry out of those delicious meals, I just want you to remember that now there's a lot of terror and fear behind that meal," she said.
ABC 10News reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment about the operation in Oxnard, but never heard back.
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