Border Patrol apprehension activities in January aimed at aliens with pending deportation orders  have generated significant social and legacy media attention and concerns in rural California that immigration authorities may be focused on agricultural employees.  Initial reports in some social media channels alleged agricultural employees were being targeted for deportation, and a number of reports included claims of large numbers of farm employees putatively detained by authorities.  Some social media channels claimed that nearly half of all farm employees were refusing to work. 

FELS has received scattered and sporadic reports of employees declining to work, to send their children to school or to leave their homes, but no verification of specific farms or ranches where work was significantly hampered has been found.   

FELS parent organization, California Farm Bureau issued a statement on January 30 expressing support for agricultural employee communities, and Farm Bureau’s affiliated company, Farm Employers Labor Service has published resources for agricultural employers to assist them in dealing with immigration worksite enforcement should it occur and resources to educate their employees (FELS Newsletter subscriber-exclusive content).