Migrants & Raids in Oxnard, California: Strawberry Capital Fears

OXNARD, California – Two women lay still among rows of mulberry bushes, startled by the presence of outsiders in the greenhouse.

One, shielding her face with a cap and purple scarf, cautiously asks, “Are you from ICE?”

Despite assurances that they are journalists, she remains wary, scrutinizing press credentials, social media profiles, and published articles.

“Have you seen any ‘migra’ trucks? Are there patrols out there?” she asks anxiously.

An undocumented Mexican worker, she has been picking blackberries, raspberries, and other fruits as six in the evening in Oxnard, california, a city known as the “world capital of strawberry.”

Now, she waits for a ride, hoping to avoid the fate of others who have been detained on their way home.

This week, coordinated deportation raids, previously concentrated in urban areas of Los Angeles County, have expanded to this agricultural heartland of California.

These operations have been met with resistance,including mostly peaceful protests and some disturbances.

President Donald Trump has responded by deploying hundreds of Navy personnel and thousands of National Guard members to “restore law and order,” a decision that has strained relations with local and state authorities, including Governor Gavin Newsom.

40% of the Undocumented Workforce

As President Trump’s return to the White House with promises of increased deportations, arrests of undocumented individuals have risen.

These arrests have occurred in various locations, including streets, churches, schools, courts, and increasingly, workplaces.

Until recently, the agricultural sector seemed relatively untouched.

However, according to 2022 estimates from the Department of Agriculture, over 40% of agricultural workers are undocumented. A University of California, Merced, study indicates that this figure reaches 50% in California.

The Center for Migration Studies estimates that these workers comprise 4% of the nation’s total undocumented workforce.

This Tuesday, the fear of immigration agents spread throughout California’s fertile fields, from the central coast to the San Joaquin Valley.

While the Department of National Security (DHS) has not confirmed specific areas of focus, migrant advocacy groups report receiving numerous calls, videos, and texts from multiple counties.

In Oxnard,located approximately 100 km northwest of Los Angeles,ICE agents reportedly entered at least nine farms and arrested 35 people,according to Lucas Zucker,executive co-director of Cause,an organization defending the rights of agricultural workers.

“It seemed an incredibly indiscriminate operation, as if they had gone farm by farm trying to grab that they were,” he says.

Zucker also notes that many businesses denied agents entry without judicial orders.

“That shows that they have no arrest orders against certain people. they are simply sweeping good communities such as Oxnard, in an indiscriminate search to fulfill their established quotas (of arrests),” he adds.

Stephen Miller, a White House advisor and key architect of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, stated in a May interview with Fox News that the goal was “at a minimum of 3,000 arrests of the daily ICE.”

Tom Homan, Trump’s “Tsar of La Frontera,” added that there would be more workplace raids “than ever before in history.”

However, during an April 10 cabinet meeting, Trump suggested that farm owners could request federal assistance to retain some workers, provided they first leave the country and then return legally with employer support.

“the agricultural worker will come with a letter signed by certain people in which they will say: ‘It’s great, he works hard.'”

Prior to the Oxnard raids, the president clarified this plan.

“Our great farmers and people in the hotel and leisure industry have been stating that our very aggressive policy very immigration is taking away very good workers and that they have been with them for a long time, and that they are almost impossible to replace,” Trump wrote this Thursday on his truthsocial networks.

He added that in many cases they are “the criminals who were allowed to enter the country as of the very stupid policy of open border” those who are occupying those works.

“That is not good. We must protect our farmers, but get the US criminals. The changes are coming!” He added.

“With the hair of end”

Among the reported raids, immigration officials attempted to enter a Boskovich Farm packer.

Raquel Pérez recounts seeing “two trucks from the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and another without brands” heading towards the company from her restaurant,casa Grande Café,located about 30 meters away.

While showing a video of the moment, she recalls feeling “very intimidated,” despite being an American citizen by birth.

A friend of hers, an undocumented strawberry picker, experienced even greater fear.

Upon hearing of patrols in the area, managers closed access to the fields. Unable to go home without crossing the city, she called the restaurant for help.

Raquel’s father, miguel Pérez, checked for ICE presence and escorted her safely home.

“he has asked for every day that corresponds to him in a row to stay at home. He does not want to take children to school,” Raquel tells the BBC about her friend.

This widespread fear is impacting the Pérez family’s restaurant, known for its chilaquiles, huevos divorciados, beef or chicken broth, and “homemade flan.”

At noon, the restaurant is empty.

“Here we have fixed customers, but nobody came today,” explains Paula Pérez, the matriarch. “We are all with the hair of end.”

The nearby business of pallets, which usually provides diners, is also deserted. The parking lot is nearly empty, and the mechanical workshops are closed.

“We have been here for 18 years (at the head of the restaurant) and we had never seen anything like that,” says Raquel.

A sign on the restaurant door reminds people of their constitutional rights and outlines steps to take when interacting with immigration agents.

Pamphlets from the 805 Immigration Coalition, with a hotline number to report patrol sightings, are available at the bar.

According to social media posts from the organization, ICE presence continued in Oxnard on Wednesday.

“They do not realize the domino effect that this will have,” says raquel Pérez regarding the raids.

“If strawberries or vegetables are not collected, companies will have nothing to pack. Trucks will not come to take the load. There will be no product in stores. Prices will shoot,” he says.

Óscar, a roadside strawberry vendor, is already feeling the impact.

“Less people are going out for a walk, and they buy me less,” he laments.

Originally from Tlaxcala, Mexico, and with children born in the US, he remains undocumented.

“I am in the process of regularization,” he tells the BBC.

Though, with raids now occurring near migration courts, he questions his next steps.

“It is no longer many ways to get legal here.”