2 days ago
ICE Immigration Raids Shift to Ventura County's Farmworkers, Imperiling Harvest for California Restaurants
On Tuesday, June 10, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) expanded its immigration sweeps throughout Southern California to the farmlands of Ventura County.
The Los Angeles Times reports that ICE agents were present at farms and packing house distribution centers in Ventura, Kern, and Tulare counties. More than 50 percent of the country's produce hails from these California regions, including livestock and produce for restaurants in Los Angeles and the entire country. Farms have previously been a site of ICE raids, including in January 2025 when Border Patrol agents were spotted at Bakersfield agricultural fields. ICE's presence in Ventura County farms is part of the current large-scale immigrant sweeps throughout Southern California, which began June 6 when federal agents conducted arrests at commercial businesses and in residential neighborhoods.
On June 11, 28 Southern California mayors, including Ventura mayor Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios, shared a statement with Eater condemning the ongoing raids.'We are outraged and heartbroken by the recent and ongoing ICE activities targeting immigrant families in our community,' the statement reads. 'These actions are not only inhumane, but they are also an affront to the values we uphold in Ventura and throughout the state of California.'The Los Angeles Times reports that Ventura County Farm Bureau chief executive, Maureen McGuire, alleges that immigration agents visited five Ventura County packing facilities and at least five farms in the Oxnard Plain near the coastline on June 10. McGuire also told the Times that ICE attempted to enter a cannabis greenhouse, but the owners refused entry, citing protections under private property. McGuire alleges that the operation moved on to the surrounding areas — without judicial warrants — to stop residents on their way to work and loiter around schools. She also claims that agents targeted Latinos in older cars. ABC-7 shared footage of the raid, noting that witnesses who were present allege that ICE agents chased farmworkers through the fields.
'It's not just about restaurants. This is our entire country's agriculture that's under attack.'
Michael Brombart, who has worked in the produce and food distribution business for more than 20 years and launched his independent company, Community Provisions, expressed dismay about the treatment of farmworkers by federal agents. He tells Eater restaurants and the general public will be deeply impacted if farmworkers do not harvest or process crops. 'These raids are definitely going to impact restaurants and our overall supply chain when it comes to produce,' says Brombart. 'It's not just about restaurants. This is our entire country's agriculture that's under attack.'
In response to the immigration raids, protests have struck up throughout Southern California since Friday, June 6. The Trump Administration dispatched National Guard troops and, later, around 700 members of the U.S. Marines to confront protesters who remained mostly in the core Civic Center near Downtown courthouses, federal buildings, and LAPD headquarters. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass instituted a curfew limited to a small section of Downtown LA and the surrounding neighborhoods on June 10 and 11; it is expected to continue for an unspecified amount of time. Bass and billionaire developer Rick Caruso, who was a candidate in the 2022 mayoral election, decried the Trump administration's actions. On X, formerly Twitter, Caruso said, 'There is no emergency, widespread threat, or out-of-control violence in Los Angeles.' See More:
