Fear of ongoing ICE raids impacting coastal farming communities
Fear from on-going ICE raids impacting coastal farming communities
Migrant farmers along the Northern California coast in San Mateo County said they feared being targeted by on-going ICE raids.
HALF MOON BAY, Calif. - Along the San Mateo County coast, it's the time of year when attention turns toward luring vacationers and sightseers. But many migrants who work the nearby farm fields said they're leery because the current political climate makes it difficult for them to feel safe.
Working hard in the fields
"We're all hardworking Latinos working in these fields. And it's very sad for the children, for example, who may have been born in this country and their parents may not be documented," said Felix Torres, standing in a field not far from Highway-1 in Half Moon Bay.
The Trump administration's continued nationwide crackdown on undocumented migrants has led to arrests and uncertainty. In Half Moon Bay, city officials said their non-profit social improvement partners have reported that fewer people in the past few months have accessed social services out of fear they could be targeted by ICE agents.
"Folks who normally attend some of our non-profit partners' emergency services as far as food, childcare, housing assistance, there's been a decline in attendance, because there's fear because of ICE or other immigration-related topics going to the different non-profits," said Julissa Acosta, a management analyst for the city's community services department.
Added Sandra Sension, "We are very aware of what's going on in our country right now."
She is a farmworker program director with ALAS in Half Moon Bay. She said they're doing outreach five days a week in an attempt to keep the farming community calm and increase awareness of what is and isn't legal.
"We've been hosting several know your rights trainings within our community, distributing the know your rights cards. Here at ALAS we have opened up a fund to be able to bring on a full-time immigration attorney and paralegal," she said.
Trump signals change
President Donald Trump on Thursday signaled an easing of strict immigration enforcement for farm and hotel workers.
"We can't take farmers and take all their people and send them back because they maybe don't have what they're supposed to have, maybe not," Mr. Trump said.
For Felix Torres, who came into the country under amnesty during President Ronald Reagan's second term in office and is now living under President Trump's second term, there is hope the ICE raids and the mood of the country will make a shift for the better.
"What we are asking right now of the current president is to touch his heart, feel for our community that is hurting and put an end to these ICE raids and separation of these hard-working families," Torres said.
The president said there will be a policy statement addressing this in the next few days.
Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay Bureau. Follow him on the Instagram platform, @jessegontv and on Facebook, @JesseKTVU.