Twenty-six farm workers in Kern County were taken into custody for deportation. It happened during a large federal sweep across central and northern California. Officials said the operation was aimed at convicted criminals, though critics disputed that.
However, Armando Elenes, vice president of the United Farm Workers of America, said many of the detained workers had no criminal record at all.
According to Elenes, agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement picked up people who had done nothing wrong. In some cases, the agents came to a specific address looking for one specific person. When they learned that person no longer lived there, they began questioning whoever lived at the address instead.
Elenes accused the Trump administration of using divisive tactics while ignoring real solutions. The workers who were detained, he said, were simply trying to work and make ends meet. As a result of the raids, he added, fear has spread through the farming community in the area.
ICE officials, by contrast, gave a wider picture of the operation. They said 232 people were detained in different parts of the state. The sweep, they said, targeted individuals seen as a threat to national security. Of those arrested, 180 were either convicted criminals or had entered the U.S. illegally. In addition, 115 of the people held had felony convictions for crimes such as child sex offenses, assault and weapons charges. Others had been convicted of various misdemeanors.
