Maribel Hastings
Posted November 27, 2025
This is undoubtedly one of the most difficult Thanksgiving celebrations for immigrant or mixed-status families separated from their loved ones by Donald Trump’s crusade of detentions and deportations, or who live with the constant fear of family separation and the disruption of their lives, plans, and future. Every year I write a Thanksgiving column in the context of immigration, and this year is especially difficult now that what was merely a threat last year, has more than materialized.
The Trump administration has unleashed an all-out war against immigrants and those who “look” foreign, even if they are citizens, in order to carry out 3,000 arrests a day to remove “criminals” from the country. But most of those detained and deported have no criminal record. Among them are farmworkers, although there are no specific figures on how many have been detained and deported. Farmers have requested exemption from these operations, but the reality is that ICE and Border Patrol agents conducting violent raids across the country are present in agricultural communities. They might not arrest someone in the fields, but they do so during traffic stops or at stores. Amid this chaos, we must be grateful for those immigrant workers who, despite the threat of detention and deportation, continue working and, in the process, making life easier for everyone, like the farmworkers who plant, harvest, pick, sort, process, and pack the food we eat. What many are wondering is how many of these farmworkers will choose not to return to the fields, given that they are seasonal workers.
How many will decide it’s not worth continuing to risk being arrested and separated from their families? How many will choose to self-deport to their countries of origin? It’s a human tragedy with serious economic repercussions, not only for farmers and their crops, but also for consumers, product prices, and availability. It also impacts the businesses in communities that depend on the economic activity generated by these workers and their families. CalMatters reported on how the raids have disrupted life in California’s farming communities. California produces 90% of the strawberries, 80% of the almonds, and 75% of the lettuce in the United States. Two-thirds of California’s farmworkers are immigrants, and a quarter are undocumented.
The report notes that the operations have already impacted the economy of places like Firebaugh. City Manager Ben Gallegos summarized it this way: “We need these people (the farmworkers) to drive our community. They’re the ones who eat at our local restaurants, they’re the ones who shop at our local stores. Without them, what do we do?” It is estimated that 2.4 million farmworkers are employed in the United States, and of these, 71% are immigrants. At least 40% to 50% of them are undocumented. These workers are the backbone of the country’s agricultural production, possessing the skills, practice, and experience to quickly and efficiently carry out difficult and complicated work without fair wages and under harsh living conditions. And now, the fear of raids and deportations complicates their situation, but in reality, it complicates everyone’s situation because of the connection between their valuable work and the supply of the food we consume.
Despite the hardships and challenges that this first year of the Trump administration has brought, there are still things to be grateful for. Thank you to the community and neighbors who have come to the defense of these immigrants who are their family members, neighbors, friends, or customers. Thank you to the grassroots local groups that tirelessly help an immigrant community under constant attack, to the national groups that pursue legal cases to stop many of these abuses in court, to those that provide legal assistance and guidance to workers and their families, and to those that keep the country informed by denouncing abuses. Thank you to the churches and all the non-profit organizations that have assisted immigrants by providing them with food and moral support. We must give thanks for the resilience and solidarity.
Maribel Hastings is a Senior Advisor to América’s Voice.
- Thanksgiving for Resilience and Solidarity - November 28, 2025
- Fighting the Extremism That Impacts us All - October 31, 2025
- Immigrants are the Scapegoats Even for the Government Shutdown - October 10, 2025
