Above photo: Lynn-Ette Farms via Google maps.
Seven Lynn-Ette & Sons farmworkers were detained just months after a previous raid that led to deportations.
Sparking outrage from the United Farm Workers.
Agents with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out another raid at Lynn-Ette & Sons Farms in western New York on August 14, detaining seven farmworkers on their way to work. The raid came just months after another ICE raid, where 14 workers were detained.
The United Farm Workers labor union has condemned the raid at the farm that the UFW has been actively organizing in since 2022. Of the 14 workers detained at the May 2 raid, ten were ultimately deported. UFW Secretary Treasurer Armando Elenes labels the raids as “shameful employer complicity in the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate legal protections and lower wages for farm workers.”
“A legally-binding union contract has already been awarded at Lynn-Ette by a NY State-appointed arbitrator, yet Lynn-Ette is defying the law and refusing to implement this union contract,” states Elenes.
Deportations Threaten Food Supply
The US agricultural industry is built on the backs of undocumented farmworkers. Nearly 40% of the 1.2 million farmworkers in the US are undocumented. ICE raids in this industry have led to fear of widespread impact to food production within the US. Following raids in Ventura County, California this summer, farmer Lisa Tate told The Guardian, “In the fields, I would say 70% of the workers are gone. If 70% of your workforce doesn’t show up, 70% of your crop doesn’t get picked and can go bad in one day.”
Trump’s mass deportations of farmworkers are already beginning to show an early impact. According to the US Bureau of Labor statistics, agricultural employment fell by 6.5% between March and July, a sharp contrast to the modest gains recorded during the same period over the past two years.
“There are early warning signs in the data that economic harm in the form of employment losses and higher prices is happening,” said Robert Lynch, professor emeritus of economics at Washington College who co-authored a report released this month which indicates that deportations are already causing economic harm in the United States.
