Undocumented Farm Workers Say They’re Being "Hunted Like Animals" as Trump Ramps Up Immigration Crackdown
Undocumented farm workers across the U.S. say they feel like they’re being “hunted like animals” as Donald Trump’s administration intensifies its immigration enforcement efforts.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids have disrupted lives—costing workers hours of pay, forcing them into hiding, and creating waves of fear across agricultural communities, according to interviews with several workers. Despite America’s agriculture industry heavily depending on undocumented labor, Trump’s policies have sent shockwaves through this fragile backbone of the food supply.
While the Trump administration has attempted to reassure farm owners, promising to give them more control over enforcement, workers’ rights advocates warn this approach forces laborers to surrender their basic freedoms just to survive in the U.S.
“We really feel like we’re being hunted—hunted like animals,” said an undocumented farm worker in Ventura County, California, speaking anonymously out of fear.
A recent ICE raid on a cannabis farm in the county led to tragedy when a worker fell from a greenhouse and later died from his injuries. The incident sparked massive protests, with federal agents deploying smoke canisters to disperse the crowd.
“There’s no peace anymore—not at work, not at home,” the worker said. “Our kids are stressed, we’re stressed. If this keeps going, how do we survive? Rent is expensive, and this has hit us hard. How do we keep going?”
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “President Trump is a staunch supporter of American farmers—he believes in giving them the tools to succeed, including the workforce they need.”
Neither ICE nor the Department of Agriculture provided comment.
Out of the more than 2.6 million farm workers in the U.S., most are Hispanic, non-citizen immigrants, and nearly 40% are undocumented.
Last month, the Trump administration raised ICE’s arrest quota to 3,000 daily, tripling the previous goal. After backlash over raids on farms and hospitality industries, Trump hinted at policy changes—but ICE later reversed a directive to halt enforcement in these sectors.
At a rally in Iowa on July 3, Trump floated the idea of giving farmers control over immigration enforcement, saying, “They know these workers better than anyone.”
This move, critics say, edges dangerously close to modern-day slavery.
“He’s clearly trying to hand corporate America the closest thing to slavery he can,” said Rosalinda Guillen, a long-time farm worker, activist, and founder of Community to Community. “Telling people they can stay here only if they give up their freedom to an employer? That’s not opportunity—that’s oppression.”
Trump has also suggested the possibility of issuing temporary work passes to immigrant laborers. But Lázaro Álvarez, a farm worker of over ten years and member of Alianza Agrícola, says the damage is already done.
“Even Trump eats the food we harvest,” he said. “But still, they call us ‘criminals.’ We pay taxes, yet we’re invisible until the government wants to collect. And we get zero benefits.”