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California and Noncitizen Immigrant Workers
The economics and politics of Trump's attack on this community of people is immense, but it seems like very few people are asking the right questions.
Jun 21, 2025
During the pandemic, there were 5.2 million non-citizen migrants laboring for U.S. employers, employees designated essential, e.g., crucial to the society's daily operation, according to Representative Joaquin Castro (D-Texas). The agriculture industry, which harvests crops for domestic and foreign consumption, is a major employer of non-citizen migrants. In California, which ranks as the world's fourth biggest economy, with a $4.1 trillion nominal gross domestic product in 2024, agriculture is one of the Golden State's flagship industries, according to Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.
The governor, who some speculate may run for president in 2028, has been pushing back against Immigration and Customs Enforcement's crackdown on non-citizen immigrants in and out of the state's labor force. As anti-ICE protests grew in Los Angeles and President Trump called out the Marines and state National Guard to quell them, federal immigration policy shifted. The White House last week exempted agricultural workers from immigration raids in part at farms and dining and lodging businesses.
That was then. The Department of Homeland Security, under Secretary Kristi Noem, reversed course recently.
The Washington Post recently reported how the president was “coming under pressure from executives in the agriculture and hospitality industries to loosen up on a sweeping deportation policy that was costing them migrant workers.” The reporters ignored the political impacts of an estimated five million Americans who took to the streets to protest against the president in “No Kings” rallies across the U.S. on June 14. Surely such mass actions registered in the White House and Congress.
Meanwhile, non-legal workers are desperate and vulnerable. Their fear of ICE deportation is real, unlike that of the five U.S. public officials who are American citizens that ICE has arrested recently. Further, in a law enforcement strategy of criminalizing journalists, Mario Guevara, a reporter from El Salvador with a big online following due to his beat of following federal immigration raids, experienced a police arrest while covering a "No Kings" rally outside Atlanta.
Meanwhile, the Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety at the University of California, Davis has been holding webinars to inform agriculture employers and employees of their legal rights, according to Heather Riden of the WCAHS. The online trainings cover what workers, employers and their frontline supervisors can do before, during and after ICE immigration raids, using protections from state law and the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Over 500 participants logged on to the WCAHS webinars held June 12 and 13, hailing from 36 of 58 California counties, according to Riden.
DHS’s abrupt changes in policymaking can wreak widespread havoc in the business sector. Take the California agriculture industry, where an estimated half of the labor force is noncitizen workers, according to the UC Merced Labor and Community Center. There were 415,300 farm jobs in California in April 2025, down 10,800 from March, according to the state Employment Development Department.
Agriculture trade groups understand what is at stake and why in the ICE immigration raids, which drew large public protests in Los Angeles, and the president's deployment of the Marines and state National Guard. "It's hard for employees and companies and takes its toll," says Michael Miiller, director of government relations with the California Association of Winegrape Growers.
ICE’s on-again, off-again policy of immigration raids is reminiscent of the president's global trade tariffs, e.g., import taxes. If this is a pro-business approach, perhaps we need a new definition of the term. Speaking of business conditions, immigrants "account for 40.3 percent of entrepreneurs" in California, according to the American Immigration Council
Regardless of their owners' national origin, businesses prefer marketplace conditions of reliability to grow and increase profitability. In contrast, marketplace unreliability hampers business growth and profits. On that note, Mayor Karen Bass on June 17 lifted last week's Downtown LA curfew that in part slammed small firms, some of which employ undocumented workers. “The curfew, coupled with ongoing crime prevention efforts, has been largely successful in protecting stores, restaurants, businesses and residential communities from bad actors who do not care about the immigrant community,” the mayor said in a statement.
Will Democrats pull back on ICE as its immigration raids deplete the noncitizen labor force and push employers to hire native-born replacement workers at higher wages? Will the GOP stick with the White House's stance on immigration raids as the U.S. midterm election approaches? The economics and politics of these policy choices are immense. One more impact is clear, though perhaps less visible. The human toll of pain and trauma from federal immigration raids will continue for a long time.
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Top Democrat Launches House Probe Into FBI Role in 'Disgraceful' Arrest of Padilla
Rep. Jamie Raskin described the incident as "the most recent in a string of increasingly flagrant abuses of power by the Trump Administration to deter congressional oversight and intimidate Members of Congress."
Jun 19, 2025
A top House Democrat is launching a probe into the FBI's forcible removal of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) from a public press conference in Los Angeles last week, the latest in a pattern of arrests and physical assaults by the Trump administration against Democratic politicians.
Padilla was tackled to the ground and dragged out of the Wilshire Federal Building in handcuffs when he attempted to ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question about the outsized federal response to protests in Los Angeles against increasingly aggressive raids and tactics by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
According to Axios, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is leading a probe into the incident and calling on the FBI to launch a formal investigation.
In a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel, Raskin demanded that the Bureau "immediately provide answers" regarding the "disgraceful and indefensible assault."
In the aftermath of the arrest of Padilla, the White House has made false claims about the events leading up to the shocking display, many of which are disproved by video of the encounter.
Noem has said that Padilla "burst into the room, started lunging towards the podium, interrupting me and elevating his voice, and was stopped, did not identify himself, and was removed from the room."
However, video of the incident shows that Padilla identified himself, by name, as a U.S. senator. There is no evidence of him "lunging" toward the secretary.
Raskin has described the incident as "the most recent in a string of increasingly flagrant abuses of power by the Trump administration to deter congressional oversight and intimidate members of Congress."
On June 10, the Department of Justice brought charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers outside an ICE detention facility the previous month. Noem accused McIver of "body slamming" a female ICE officer, but this claim was disproved by a Washington Post review of video evidence.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was also charged for trespassing as part of the same incident, though the charges were later dropped.
But Democratic politicians have continued to be roughed up by federal law enforcement. Earlier this week, New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested by masked ICE agents as he escorted a man out of immigration court.
"You don't have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens," Lander said in the video of his arrest.
The agents refused to provide a warrant despite repeated requests from Lander, who is a U.S. citizen. After he was released, the Department of Homeland Security released a brazenly false statement, claiming that Lander "was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer," which is also disproved by video evidence.
Raskin called out these incidents and other aggressive actions against political dissenters in his letter. He called on the FBI to disclose whether an internal investigation was underway and whether the officers involved in Padilla's arrest or other incidents like it would face discipline.
"Like it or not, the people of the United States enjoy broad and robust First Amendment rights and now deserve urgent answers from their government about these high-handed authoritarian tactics," Raskin said.
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'This Is INSANE!': Senator Padilla Forcibly Removed From Kristi Noem Press Conference
"This isn't just shocking," said Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.). "It's a threat to the rule of law and democratic accountability."
Jun 12, 2025
Democratic Senator Alex Padilla of California was forcibly removed from a press conference being held by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem in Los Angeles on Thursday—footage of which immediately went viral and sparked outrage.
"I'm Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary," Padilla can be heard saying as men in plain clothes, though one possibly with a badge on his hip, push him out of the room. Outside the room, law enforcement agents also put their hands on Padilla, and the senator can be heard saying, "Hands off!"
Watch the moment Padilla is forced from the room:
Senator Alex Padilla is forcibly removed from Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem's press conference in LA.
"Hands off!," Padilla can be heard yelling. pic.twitter.com/pNAlKahF6y
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) June 12, 2025
The footage of the incident immediately hit social media, generating grave concern among those alarmed about the increasingly violent and authoritarian nature of the Trump administration, which has deployed thousands of California National Guard troops in Los Angeles and an order by President Donald Trump to also send in U.S. Marines.
Padilla appeared to be trying to ask Noem about immigrant raids in the state, which are the primary source of the protests that have drawn national attention since last weekend.
"Holy shit, this is INSANE!" said one observer on X. "U.S. Senator Alex Padilla was just forcibly removed from a press conference held by cosplay DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. What the fuck is going on? He is a fucking Senator."
Members of Padilla's staff also shared photos of the Senator being handcuffed by police:
"THROWN TO THE GROUND AND ARRESTED," declared Rep. Jimmy Gomez, in response to what happened. "Padilla was forcibly removed from a DHS press conference—an elected U.S. Senator who represents the PEOPLE OF CALIFORNIA. This isn't just shocking, it's a threat to the rule of law and democratic accountability."
"Padilla is conducting oversight over the lawlessness of the Trump administration and the violations of the rule of law," he added. "If this can happen to immigrant communities, it can happen to anyone."
In remarks to the press outside the federal building where the incident took place, Sen. Padilla said that while he was forced to the ground and handcuffed, he was neither placed under arrest nor detained by law enforcement.
"I will say this," said Padilla. "If this is how the administration responds to a senator with a question; if this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question—you can only imagine what they're doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country."
"We will hold this administration accountable," vowed Padilla, who said he would have more to say on the matter in the coming days.
Rep. Norma Torres of California also spoke out.
Let’s call it what it is: a disgraceful abuse of power. Senator Alex Padilla was dragged and handcuffed out for daring to question Secretary Noem. This wasn’t a threat—it was dissent. They’re not keeping us safe—they’re silencing us. pic.twitter.com/SbSpwfuIHL
— Rep. Norma Torres (@NormaJTorres) June 12, 2025
"Let's call it what it is: a disgraceful abuse of power," said Torres. "Senator Alex Padilla was dragged and handcuffed out for daring to question Secretary Noem. This wasn’t a threat—it was dissent. They’re not keeping us safe—they’re silencing us."
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