Federal Immigration Raids Threaten Justice for All American Workers

Image description: an agricultural worker holds a sign reading "leyes hay, lo que falta es justicia" outside the Ventura County Courthouse in 2023.

CRLA is heartbroken by the loss of life as a result of ICE raids in Ventura and Santa Barbara County. We are mourning alongside our clients, our community, and the families of those impacted by death, injury, trauma, and the tearing apart of loved ones.  

Immigrants are more than the value they bring to our agricultural industry and the economy. Immigrants are our parents, our neighbors, our friends, and our community members—they are humans. 

Actions by ICE and federal law enforcement last week in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, and over the past few weeks across all of California, are inhumane. No one should be okay with any human being treated this way.  

We Need Solutions, Not Violence and Cruelty 

CRLA and the communities we serve have extensive knowledge of the problems with immigration and labor code enforcement. Our clients have so much insight on possible solutions.  

None of the solutions involve the unnecessary violence or cruelty seen from federal agents during last Thursday's raids.

Beyond the violence that resulted in injury and even death of workers, some workers who were detained reported that they were coerced into signing "voluntary" deportation orders under the threat that they would be jailed for life because they worked at a cannabis nursery. Only after they signed the "voluntary" deportation order were they allowed to call their families.

Militarized Raids Do Nothing to Address True Bad Actors

Federal officials say Thursday's raids uncovered labor violations, yet their heavily militarized approach and unlawful, coercive actions are scaring working people away from reporting labor violations and upholding their civil rights.

The raids also do nothing to address the true bad actors—employers who exploit undocumented workers, violate worker protections, and profit off of immigrant families’ desperation for work to afford basic necessities like food and shelter.

Read More: Farmworkers Who Picked Driscoll's Strawberries in Oxnard File Suit Alleging Stolen Wages

If the federal government wanted to address labor violations and protect workers’ rights, we wouldn’t see the erosion of federal civil protections that we have seen over the past few weeks across Supreme Court decisions, Executive Orders, and changes in the policies of federal agencies.  

If the federal government wanted to protect children from child labor violations, we certainly wouldn’t see the use of violence and tear gas, rubber bullets, and smoke grenades against workers that include children.  

These federal raids destroy communities, waste our public resources, and threaten justice for all Americans.

Workers Scared to Speak Up About Labor Violations 

Tens of thousands of people across California rely on our civil legal services every year to exercise their rights to safe and fair housing, work, school, and healthcare. 

But many of our 17 Rural Justice Centers statewide report a decrease in calls, walk-ins, and applications for CRLA services over the past few weeks as federal actions have increased.  

Despite accommodations like meeting with clients in their homes, workers are calling to pull their cases with us and asking us to dismiss their cases in the agencies where we filed them. Workers are also hesitant to move forward with litigation.

When our clients' cases go unheard, employers can act with impunity, and labor rights and equality before the law become increasingly vulnerable for all Americans.  

We Continue to Fight for Equality Before the Law

We are heartbroken for the families of workers injured or killed in these raids.  

We are angry at the unnecessary cruelty, violence, and fear that these raids create.  

We honor those whose light is gone from their communities due to state violence, deportation, detention, and displacement.  

We pledge to continue their struggle to uphold justice and equality before the law. 

In solidarity,

Jessica Manriquez Jewell
President and CEO