Immigration enforcement concerns farmers and farmworkers in WA

Immigration policies and measures are causing concern among farmers and farmworkers in Washington.

Leonardo Flores, a farmworker in Central Washington, has been working in the fields for about 25 years. He said comments about immigration enforcement’s presence are very loud throughout the region.

“All the workers are afraid, mainly the local ones,” Flores said in Spanish.

He said he has heard from co-workers who have seen immigration enforcement organizations near their homes.

Flores said that fear is widespread among the entire community, regardless of immigration status. He also said it is leading people to take precautions.

“We get home and lock the door, and we look out the window before opening the door, or ask. We are very, very, very, very concerned and looking out for any situation,” Flores said in Spanish.

He added that he believes most farmworkers and immigrants are good people.

“Simply from work to home, from home to work, and so on every day. Some co-workers say ‘It cannot be possible that our president is going to judge us as criminals when we are not,'” Flores said.

Edgar Franks, the political director of Familias Unidas por la Justicia, a farmworkers’ union in Skagit County, said farmworkers in the western part of the state have similar feelings.

“ There are people that are getting picked up by ICE on their way to work. Like, in the morning, when they get out of the house,” Franks said. “They’re driving to work, they get pulled over and questioned, and that’s where they get detained.”

Franks said the state protections under the Keep Washington Working Act are good but need to be reinforced.

“Nobody really takes into consideration everything immigrants and farmworkers did during COVID to keep the food from coming to our tables and the economy from collapsing. So farmworkers have done a lot,” Franks said.

Farmers share the same concerns, said Ben Tindall, the executive director of Save Family Farming, an organization that advocates for family farming in Washington state.

“It’s driving a lot of employees to not want to come to work, which is then putting stress on the operation … farm operations are already surviving on the brink in our state right now,” he said.

Tindall said that this is a red flag for leaders — that there could be a problem with how policies are being executed.  

He also said the farming community encourages legal immigration processes. Still, with a mixed-worker population,  farm operations and workers should feel protected.

“Farming, agriculture, is one of the most vital industries and communities in our country. This should be preserved,” Tindall said.

It’s time for farmers to “recognize that immigrants and farmworkers need to be protected,” said Franks.  He called for better wages, housing and rules to protect workers’ health and safety. “To be protected, we also need all these other things, like good wages, better housing, better rules to protect our health and safety.”