‘Total disaster’: Central Valley leaders react to recent ICE raids

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Local leaders are reacting to this week’s ICE raids in Southern California. Folks like Manuel Cunha and Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria are calling out the Trump administration for its handling of ICE raids. They said hard-working families are living in fear.

“Every day my farmers have no idea and they’re scared to death. But the people that are scared the most are the workers and their families,” President of the Nisei Farmers League Manuel Cunha said.

The President of the Nisei Farmers League is speaking up after a series of ICE raids and protests in Southern California turned violent and deadly. He says what we saw in the south could happen in the Central Valley.

“The fear is are they going to do the same thing with the tanks, the armored equipment and all of that?”

Cunha said the shocking events in Ventura County could potentially stop farm workers from going to work.

“Those farmers are going to lose it all. Those workers are going to lose all their jobs. Many other workers that don’t go to work, how do they feed their children now,” Cunha said.

It’s not just Cunha sounding the alarm. Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria is also concerned for the people she represents. She’s also the Chair of the Assembly Agriculture Committee.

“When you’re going after hard-working people that are waking up at three in the morning to go and pick in the fields. It’s really, really upsetting,” Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria said.

Assemblywoman Soria says the Trump administration isn’t being totally honest about the ICE raids.

“Data has now shown after many weeks of doing these enforcement, that many of them have turned into violence. Many of the folks that are being arrested, detained and deported are not criminals,” Soria said.

Fresno City Councilmember Annalisa Perea shares similar feelings. She said something’s got to give.

“The last thing we want is family separation. That is not democracy in America. And so I think it’s time for federal, state and local agencies to come to the table and to hit the reset,” Fresno City Councilmember Annalisa Perea said. 

And because the entire world is dependent on Central Valley Ag production.

“Any disruption to that industry is not just devastating,” Perea said.

“We are going to jeopardize food security in this nation, that prices are going to go up because fields are going to go unharvested,” Soria added.

Cunha said the ongoing raids could change the entire landscape of agriculture in the Central Valley.

“You come in and do that with one or two of our packing houses. The 58 small rural communities would suddenly dry up. It would be a total disaster,” Cunha said.

Cunha also says if you are a farm worker, make sure you always have valid identification on hand.