Trump's ICE raids decimated farm labor. Food prices spiked 5-12% and crops rotted in fields

The Trump administration escalated ICE worksite raids beginning in Mar. 2025. Between Mar. and Jul. 2025 alone, the agricultural sector lost 155,000 workers instead of the typical seasonal gain. This reversed a pattern that had held for decades.

ICE conducted at least 40 documented worksite enforcement operations during the first seven months of Trump's second term, resulting in over 1,100 arrests. The largest single-site action occurred on Sept. 4, 2025, when ICE raided a Hyundai battery plant construction site in Ellabell, 🍑Georgia, arresting approximately 475 individuals including roughly 300 South Korean nationals on visa violations.

🌴California's Central Valley produces half the nation's vegetables and nearly three-quarters of its fruits and nuts. After intensive ICE raids in Southern California, farms in the region dropped to 30% operating capacity by Jun. 2025. The Oxnard region of Ventura County alone lost 20-40% of its agricultural workforce, causing crop losses estimated between $3 billion and $7 billion as produce rotted unharvested in the fields.

The fear generated by ICE raids spread beyond farm employment, affecting entire families and communities. School attendance in 🌴California's Central Valley dropped 22% during the initial raid period as farm-working families avoided public spaces. Many families feared enforcement agents would arrest breadwinners or separate relatives regardless of legal status.

On Jun. 10, 2025, ICE raided Glenn Valley Foods meatpacking plant in Omaha, 🌽Nebraska, resulting in 76 or more arrests and immediately forcing the plant to cut back production. The facility had been using E-Verify, the federal employment verification system, to confirm workers' legal status before hiring. The raid left employers across the country confused about whether compliance with federal verification requirements actually protected them from enforcement action.

On Oct. 20, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a formal warning stating: 'The near total cessation of the inflow of illegal aliens, combined with the lack of an available legal workforce, is threatening the stability of domestic food production and prices for U.S. consumers.' The Labor Department continued: 'Without swift action, agricultural employers will be unable to maintain operations and the nation's food supply will be at risk.'

National agricultural leaders publicly contradicted claims that Americans would replace the missing workers. BFBeth Ford, CEO of Land O'Lakes and chair of the National Business Roundtable's immigration committee, warned that the labor shortage could become a 'black swan event' destabilizing the food supply. Neither rising wages nor offers of better benefits attracted U.S. workers to farm labor, contradicting Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins' claim that 34 million able-bodied adults on Medicaid could replace immigrant workers.

Produce prices across the United States increased 5-12% between Mar. and Oct. 2025 as the labor shortage reduced supply. Beef and pork prices showed similar upward pressure during the same period, tracked through Bureau of Labor Statistics data. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in late Sep. 2025 found 65% of Americans reported being 'very concerned' about food prices, directly linking the concern to Trump administration immigration enforcement policies.

Agriculture relies on migrant workers for an estimated 75% of U.S. fruit and nut production and one-third of vegetable production. According to 2022 USDA baseline data, 42% of all farm workers lacked legal authorization to work in the United States. Undocumented workers comprised over 25% of 🌴California's agricultural workforce specifically, meaning their removal reduced state agricultural output by an estimated 14% according to the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.