ICE Surge Drives Central Valley Workers from Streets

ICE operations across California’s Central Valley have disrupted agricultural communities, reduced school attendance and left families searching for detained relatives. Undocumented residents are staying home, and farmworkers report enforcement patrols. The federal apparatus moves through rural communities. People who work, study and live there are changing their routines around it.

Last week in Kerman, Prudencio Rivera livestreamed two officers wearing green vests marked “ICE” standing outside his vehicle. Rivera said he entered the United States in 2023 through an asylum process, has a work permit and checks in with ICE once a month. In the video, an officer said Rivera’s work permit didn’t give him permission to live in the country, then warned, “We’re going to break the window.” Glass shattered on camera.

Rivera told The Times that agents detained him and took him to the ICE office in Fresno. They released him after checking his documents and record. “When they told me they were going to let me go, I was relieved,” he said. “Imagine, thinking they’re never going to let you leave.” DHS didn’t respond to a request for comment about what prompted the stop.

Federal power, local costs

The effects are showing up in schools and workplaces. Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias said enforcement operations reduced school attendance and prompted student protests Friday. “We’re seeing across-the-board reduction of school attendance, substantial reduction in employees showing up to farm operations, packing sheds and in the fields. Construction has essentially come to a halt,” Arias said. “We’re seeing very few people out in the streets.”

In Madera, organizers postponed the third annual Oaxacan Guelaguetza festival amid growing fears, the group said on Facebook. Noelia Bautista and Cipriano Lopez’s children started a GoFundMe after ICE detained their parents in Fresno. They contend their parents were racially profiled. An unidentified Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed the arrests and said the couple had “illegally entered the U.S. at unknown times and places.”

A farmworker who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation said ICE officers pulled him over last Tuesday as he drove to work with three others. He said the officers didn’t know his name. He declined to answer questions about where he was born and when he crossed the border. They let him go.

Teresa Romero, president of United Farm Workers, called the enforcement a “brutal ICE surge.” In a written statement, she said: “Warrantless stops and roving patrols by masked federal agents across California, especially the Central Valley have been terrorizing farm workers ... and the chaos is escalating. These are not criminals. These are hard-working, long term members of our communities being unlawfully targeted simply for looking Latino and working class.”

Watching, organizing, and official answers

Gloria Hernandez, a volunteer with the Valley Watch Network, a rapid response group that tracks ICE arrests and helps families of detained people, said she saw increased activity at ICE’s downtown Fresno office in the days before the reported surge. She saw 17 black vehicles and what she described as “a bunch of new ICE people.” “They’re hitting the small towns, the rural areas, the farmworkers,” she said. “This surge is really horrible.” The group helps families respond as federal operations leave them trying to find detained relatives.

Elizabeth Strater, director of strategic campaigns and national vice president of UFW, said farmworkers began reporting immigration patrols on Oct. 6. She said it wasn’t clear how many people had been detained. Similar ICE arrests, Strater said, were occurring in the Coachella Valley and Ventura County, where a preliminary injunction restricts civil arrests without a warrant. Authorities are investigating multiple vehicle accidents in Oxnard and Simi Valley involving ICE agents. “It’s total lawlessness,” Strater said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said increased reports of federal immigration agents across the state resulted from President Trump using “fear and panic as a weapon — putting families at risk, undermining our economy, and terrorizing communities.” An unidentified Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said ICE wouldn’t disclose or discuss operations, citing “operational security and the safety of our officers.” The spokesperson also said, “Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country including in California.”

An unidentified Homeland Security spokesperson said Bautista and Lopez would have their claims heard by immigration judges and would receive due process. The spokesperson called racial-profiling allegations “disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE,” and said immigration enforcement targets people based on whether they’re illegally in the U.S., “NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity.” A review of reported arrests found some detained people had recent arrests, while others appeared to have no criminal record. The California Farm Bureau reaffirmed its support for agricultural workers, noting California is home to one-third of the nation’s agricultural workforce. Official assurances and institutional statements sit alongside the stops, detentions, and empty streets residents describe.