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A surprising immigration raid in Kern County foreshadows what awaits farmworkers and businesses
Found this thanks to a Bluesky post from Gil Duran: https://bsky.app/profile/gilduran.com/post/3lfgem36q4s2u
https://calmatters.org/economy/2025/01/kern-county-immigration-sweep/
Acres of orange fields sat unpicked in Kern County this week as word of Border Patrol raids circulated through Messenger chats and images of federal agents detaining laborers spread on local Facebook groups.
-snip-
“It was profiling, it was purely field workers,” said Sara Fuentes, store manager of the local gas station. Fuentes said that at 9 a.m., when the store typically gets a rush of workers on their way to pick oranges, two men in civilian clothes and unmarked Suburbans started detaining people outside the store. “They didn’t stop people with FedEx uniforms, they were stopping people who looked like they worked in the fields.” Fuentes says one customer pulled in just to pump gas and agents approached him and detained him.
Fuentes has lived in Bakersfield all her life and says she’s never seen anything like it. In one instance, she said a man and woman drove up to the store together, and the man went inside. Border Patrol detained the man as he walked out, Fuentes said, and then demanded the woman get out of the vehicle. When she refused, another agency parked his vehicle behind the woman, blocking her car. Fuentes said it wasn’t until the local Univision station showed up that Border Patrol agents backed up their car and allowed the woman to leave.
-snip-
“We’re in the middle of our citrus harvesting. This sent shockwaves through the entire community,” said Casey Creamer, president of the industry group California Citrus Mutual, on Thursday. “People aren’t going to work and kids aren’t going to school. Yesterday about 25% of the workforce, today 75% didn’t show up.”
-snip-
-snip-
“It was profiling, it was purely field workers,” said Sara Fuentes, store manager of the local gas station. Fuentes said that at 9 a.m., when the store typically gets a rush of workers on their way to pick oranges, two men in civilian clothes and unmarked Suburbans started detaining people outside the store. “They didn’t stop people with FedEx uniforms, they were stopping people who looked like they worked in the fields.” Fuentes says one customer pulled in just to pump gas and agents approached him and detained him.
Fuentes has lived in Bakersfield all her life and says she’s never seen anything like it. In one instance, she said a man and woman drove up to the store together, and the man went inside. Border Patrol detained the man as he walked out, Fuentes said, and then demanded the woman get out of the vehicle. When she refused, another agency parked his vehicle behind the woman, blocking her car. Fuentes said it wasn’t until the local Univision station showed up that Border Patrol agents backed up their car and allowed the woman to leave.
-snip-
“We’re in the middle of our citrus harvesting. This sent shockwaves through the entire community,” said Casey Creamer, president of the industry group California Citrus Mutual, on Thursday. “People aren’t going to work and kids aren’t going to school. Yesterday about 25% of the workforce, today 75% didn’t show up.”
-snip-
Creamer disagreed with the Border Control claiming they're targeting what they say are bad people. They're just targeting workers.
And the result, a Cal State professor of economics said, will be "economic devastation" and "a recession-level event.". And food inflation and shortages.
22 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/border-zone
Legal contexts matter. These arrests are the shot over the bow. Trumper patrols, the Felon and oligarchs surrounding him are out to knock down California's economy, Gavin Newsom, and every CA official they can.
The federal government defines a “reasonable distance” as 100 air miles from any external boundary of the U.S. So, combining this federal regulation and the federal law regarding warrantless vehicle searches, CBP claims authority to board a bus or train without a warrant anywhere within this 100-mile zone. Two-thirds of the U.S. population, or about 200 million people, reside within this expanded border region, according to the 2010 census. Most of the 10 largest cities in the U.S., such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, fall in this region. Some states, like Florida, lie entirely within this border band so their entire populations are impacted.
Legal contexts matter. These arrests are the shot over the bow. Trumper patrols, the Felon and oligarchs surrounding him are out to knock down California's economy, Gavin Newsom, and every CA official they can.
Senior Living facilities, as Aides. In Hospitals as Housekeepers, at Grocery stores, etc. Get rid of all the immigrants, expect prices to triple or quadruple.
MAGA is the way! 
Who wants to hire the immigrants rather than pay Americans?
