California farmworkers brace for impact of 2nd Trump administration, potential mass deportations

OXNARD, Calif. (KABC) -- California's farmworkers, many of them undocumented, are bracing for the impact of a second Trump administration that threatens mass deportations.

"Immediately upon taking the oath of office, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history," the then candidate Donald Trump said on the campaign trail in October.

Now that he's president-elect, Trump has doubled down, confirming he plans to use the military for mass deportations. That could include California's farmworkers.

A woman, who wished to remain anonymous, came to Ventura County from Mexico 20 years ago for a better life and now works as a farmworker in Oxnard. In an interview with Eyewitness News, she said the work of picking strawberries is not easy and neither is the pay, $16 an hour.

"We are worried because he says he is going to deport all the immigrants," she said. "If they deport us, the situation in Mexico is very difficult. A lot of violence."

According to the Pew Research Center, there's an estimated 11 million migrants living in the U.S. without legal immigration status. Around 50 percent, or roughly 200,000 of California farmworkers are undocumented.

"Look, this is what we do, what we harvest, and let's see, if they deport all of us, who is going to come and do this work? I don't think the gringos want to come and do this work, right?" said the undocumented farmworker.

Farmers say that the country's food system would collapse if undocumented farmworkers in California are targeted with mass deportations, more so because there's already a farm worker shortage.

According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, California produces more than one-third of the country's vegetables and three-quarters of the country's fruits and nuts.

Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, or MICOP, is a non-profit that helps the more than 20,000 indigenous farm workers in Ventura County.

"Even though they have undocumented status, they have basic rights. Right to a lawyer. Right to not provide information, their personal information. Right to not open their doors when someone is knocking on their doors," said MICOP's executive director Arcenio Lopez.

Lopez said that during the first Trump administration, undocumented families he works with were scared to share their personal information for fear of being targeted by the government, which caused them to miss out on valuable benefits. That's happening again.

"When you have undocumented status, you always live under fear in this country," said Lopez. "That fear gets worse when you start hearing the new elected president is going to come in and launch this initiative, massive deportation."

To protect the rights of undocumented immigrants, the state of California is gearing up for a fight, launching a special session to secure $25 million dollars to fund possible lawsuits against the Trump administration.

During the first Trump administration, the state fought Trump's decision to end DACA.

"We know that California played a really big role in protecting our immigrant communities during the first Trump administration and if we need to, we are prepared to play that role again."