When President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office on Monday, the U.S. Border Patrol is poised to play a central role in immigration enforcement that he has promised. On Thursday, Californians got a preview of the tensions that could arise as undocumented immigrants are apprehended in places where they depend on their labor.
On one side, the Border Patrol chief posted a video on social media showing the sweep that took place in California’s Central Valley last week. The effort, dubbed Operation Return to Sender, included dozens of arrests. “They think I’m hiding in the shadows, but I am a shadow.” The whispering voice during the video is reminiscent of the popular Batman movie.
On the other hand, United Farm Workers officials used news briefings to describe the fear the operation has caused in immigrant communities. They claimed the arrests were a sign that “rogue” law enforcement agents inspired by President Trump’s plans could take matters into their own hands.
“This is part of a new political climate in which people in some institutions have become emboldened,” said union spokesman Antonio de Loera Brust.
The Biden administration and Trump’s transition team did not respond to messages seeking comment. U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not respond to questions about these efforts and said agents had made “targeted enforcement arrests of individuals involved in smuggling throughout our area of operation in an effort to dismantle transnational criminal organizations.”
Details about the search came primarily from the social media channels of Southern California Border Patrol Chief Gregory K. Bovino. In a series of posts, he called the three-day operation an “overwhelming success” that resulted in the arrests of 78 people, all of whom were in the country illegally and some with “serious criminal histories.”
United Farm Workers and some farmers in the area have suggested the cleanup could be much broader in scope.
“Agents ask people in the parking lot for documentation and ask if they are legally in the country,” said Manuel Cunha Jr., president of the Nisei Farmers League, which represents more than 500 growers and packers in the state. “I asked if it was there,” he said. “Then they were just taking them away in the van.”
What is clear is that about 60 agents drove hundreds of miles from their headquarters near the border in Imperial, California, in marked and unmarked vehicles, to congregate in and around Bakersfield, a vast agricultural region that relies on immigrant labor. Agents went undercover at Home Depot, gas stations and other locations frequented by undocumented immigrants.
Mr. Bovino, a nearly 30-year veteran of the agency who holds a non-political role in the El Centro sector, said the efforts resulted in “two child sex offenders” and other “aggravated felons,” including a Chinese citizen. He is accused of defrauding an American dementia patient of “$70,000”.
He called the sweep a “targeted operation,” saying agents “go where the threat is.” In addition to the arrests, agents seized marijuana and methamphetamine, he said.
When a social media commentator commented on January 10 that Mr. Bovino would be “very busy” in the 10 days left until President Trump’s inauguration, Mr. Bovino responded: them.”
In another post, he said unauthorized immigrants should simply be given papers. “That’s what undocumented means. It would be a good idea to go back to your home country, secure the proper documentation, and proceed the right way. Otherwise, I will arrest you.”
President Trump has pledged to carry out mass deportations. Since his election, he has continued to use social media to share his views on the border, and said in late November that “thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing with them levels of crime and drugs never seen before.” I wrote:
Illegal crossings have plummeted in recent months due to new asylum restrictions introduced by the Biden administration and increased crackdowns on migration routes in Mexico and other countries. About 46,000 people crossed the border illegally in November, the lowest number under the Biden administration and lower than in 2020 when President Trump finished his term.
Thomas D. Homan, a former senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official appointed “border czar” by President Trump, said enforcement under the new administration will target immigrants with outstanding deportation orders and criminal records. But it wasn’t made public. The possibility of other people being arrested during the roundup.
Bakersfield straddles Route 99, a heavily trafficked highway for trucks hauling produce harvested in California’s agricultural heartland, the Central Valley. However, it is also a major conduit for smuggling illegal substances.
Gunfights became a feature of life there as gangs fought for control of lucrative drug sales. Working-class areas are accustomed to law enforcement agencies conducting operations to track and apprehend those involved in the drug trade.
Chris Magnus, who served as director of Customs and Border Protection in the early days of the Biden administration, said illegal immigrants who commit serious crimes should be arrested.
“But mass arrests of day laborers and field workers through profiling do not improve public safety and waste law enforcement resources,” Mr. Magnus said. “These arrests create widespread distrust in law enforcement and discourage many community members from reporting crimes as victims or witnesses.”
In fact, the arrests of random people who were questioned about their immigration status caused panic in Bakersfield and surrounding areas of Kern County.
Cunha, of the Nisei Farmers League, said 30 to 40 percent of the workforce failed to report to the field after the raids.
Pete Belluomini, a citrus farmer near Bakersfield, said about two-thirds of his harvest crews didn’t show up for two to three days. “It’s not the first time something like this has happened, but it was a bigger incident in the current political climate,” he said.
It’s an open secret that most of the people who harvest America’s food come primarily from Mexico and Central America, many of them illegal immigrants who have been in the country for decades. Often parents of children born in the United States, they have lived for years with the cloud of deportation.
Alejandra and her partner Pedro, undocumented immigrants from Mexico, had just started picking lemons on January 7, the first day of the cleanup. Then their boss warned them:“La Migra” — Border Patrol slang — was in the area.
They soon learned that one of their colleagues had been arrested, and most people decided to remain at the scene until dark, she said. The couple returned to Bakersfield before sunset to pick up their 5-year-old son from day care.
“As parents, our biggest fear is what will happen to our children if we are deported?” said Alejandra, 38, who withheld her partner’s last name out of concern for his safety. “The fields were almost empty,” she said, as workers felt anxious during the week of clean-up.
Alejandra said she attended three information sessions hosted by community advocates to learn about her rights to feel more empowered.
“I am nervous and scared,” she said. “We don’t know what Trump has in store for us.”
