No one to harvest fruits in California

President Donald Trump’s hunt for illegal migrants in California has precipitated an agricultural crisis. Large tracts of farms are left with crops, especially fruits, waiting to be harvested. Because of the raids by the officials of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), many of the workers have kept away. Farmers and farm supervisors admit that many of the farm labour was illegal.

They argue however that if these illegal immigrants are taken away, then the food supply chain, would be disrupted and there is a looming disaster. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a Rpublican and former director of Congressional Budget Office, said an estimated 80 per cent of the farm labour in the US was foreign-born, and half of them were illegal immigrants. But if they disappear, then there would be a problem. “This is bad for supply chains, bad for the agricultural industry.” California is a key state for the production of fruits and vegetables.

Three-fourths of fruits and nuts grown in the US are from California, according to California Department of Food and Agriculture. The farms and ranches in the state generated $60 billion in sales in 2023. One of the labour force, aged 54, old news agency Reuters, he had been working in the US agricultural fields for the last 30 years, he has a family and children. He explained the fear of the farm workers: “If they show up to work, they don’t know if they will ever see the family again.”

Another worker, an illegal migrant in the country, said, “Basically, we wake up in the morning scared. We worry about the sun, the heat and now a much bigger problem – many not returning home. I try not to get into trouble on the street. Now, whoever gets arrested for any reason gets deported.”

Trump’s raid have then pushed farm workers into a corner. They do not want to be seen by the officials even if it means they cannot work. But their absence from work is not a loss just for the workers but for the farmers as well. Without workers they cannot harvest their farm produce. The labour shortage is being felt acutely.

A Mexican farm supervisor who did not want to be named said that he needed 300 workers to plant strawberries, but he got only 80. Another supervisor said that when he needed 80 workers in a field, there were only 17.

Trump has conceded that the ICE raids in California were creating problems. He admitted on his media portal, Truth Social that the raids were taking away farm and hotel workers who were good and long-serving were being taken away. He told reporters, “Our farmers are being hurt badly. They have very good workers. They’re not citizens, but they’ve turned out to be great.” But he is not willing to change his policy. Nor is he thinking of ways supplying the work force that the farmers need.

In the face of a real time crisis – if the fruits are not harvested in time they will be wasted – Trump does not seem to know what to do. He sees the problem, he wants to help the farmers. But he does not want to go back on the issue of illegal immigrants. And he cannot afford to force the farmers to face huge losses because of his anti-illegal-immigrants policy. It is a real dilemma.

A seasoned politician would have known when to step back. No American has a quarrel with Trump over the issue of illegal immigrants. But they want the president to recognize the need for migrant labour. American economy cannot survive without migrant labour. Trump and his advisers have to think out a practical solution before it is too late.