In the predawn quiet of August 14, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents descended on Lynn-Ette & Sons Farms, an 8,000-acre agricultural expanse in Orleans County, New York. The raid, which resulted in the detention of four Mexican and three Guatemalan farm workers, was not an isolated event. Just three months prior, in May, ICE had already targeted the same farm, detaining 14 workers as they boarded a bus to the fields. According to Documented, these actions have sent shockwaves through the region’s immigrant workforce and ignited a fresh debate about the state of labor rights, immigration enforcement, and the future of American agriculture.
The detained workers from the May operation were taken to the Buffalo Federal Detention Center in Batavia, a facility with a reputation for solitary confinement and forced labor. Ten of those workers were quickly deported, including a Guatemalan family who had been leading unionization efforts at Lynn-Ette. Four others were released on bond after advocacy from the United Farm Workers (UFW) union. The UFW, which has been organizing at Lynn-Ette and other upstate farms since New York’s 2019 agricultural labor law granted farm workers the right to collectively bargain, sees a disturbing pattern in these raids. "Once again, workers at Lynn-Ette farms were targeted. Once again, multiple workers were taken. And once again, business as usual continues for Lynn-Ette’s owners and management," said Armando Elenes, UFW secretary treasurer, in a statement to Documented.
Union leaders argue that the timing and focus of the raids are no coincidence. Four of the deported workers were active in organizing efforts, and the UFW suspects a direct connection between union activism and immigration enforcement. In 2023, the farm’s owner, Darren Roberts, was accused by the union of surveilling and threatening both organizers and workers. The struggle for labor rights at Lynn-Ette reached a milestone on July 1, 2025, when 20 full-time workers won a contract fight for better wages, healthcare, and retirement benefits. Yet, the farm’s owners have refused to recognize the contract, despite a New York State-appointed arbitrator’s ruling. "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," Elenes told Documented.
Rather than comply, Lynn-Ette joined several other farms in a 2023 federal lawsuit challenging the 2019 labor law. Their goal: to exclude H-2A visa workers—who form a backbone of the farm labor force—from union rights. The union alleges that the recent wave of ICE raids has emboldened anti-union efforts, especially under President Trump’s renewed crackdown on undocumented immigrants. The farm’s owners, for their part, deny any involvement with ICE. In a statement to a local news outlet, they said, "We are deeply troubled by the manner in which this enforcement action was carried out and the impact it has had on our team and their families. Lynn-Ette & Sons had no prior knowledge of the raid and had no contact with ICE beforehand." ICE, meanwhile, did not respond to Documented’s inquiries.
The impact of these raids extends far beyond Lynn-Ette. According to a recent report by Economic Insights and Research Consulting, immigration enforcement operations under the Trump administration have ramped up nationwide, targeting not only farms but also meatpacking plants, construction sites, and hospitality businesses. The effects are already visible in workforce data: from May to June 2025, California’s total workforce shrank by 3.1%, with the noncitizen workforce dropping by 7.2%. The agricultural sector alone lost 155,000 workers between March and July—a sharp reversal from the previous year’s growth. These disruptions have led to higher prices for fresh vegetables and meat, as well as significant drops in school attendance in regions hit by raids. In California’s Central Valley, school attendance fell by 22% after early raids led by Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino, as reported in a June 2025 study.
Employers across the country are feeling the pinch. In Ottumwa, Iowa, 200 meatpacking workers lost their jobs after their legal status was stripped. In Omaha, Nebraska, a DHS raid led to mass arrests and production cuts at a meatpacking plant. Lovington, New Mexico, saw a dairy farm shutter temporarily after a raid resulted in 11 employee arrests. Even businesses that have used E-Verify and I-9 forms to check employee status now find themselves under scrutiny, with the White House labeling such reliance "reckless." The uncertainty has left small businesses and farms in a bind, unsure how to maintain compliance or protect their workforce.
Nowhere is the human cost of these policies clearer than in the stories of the workers themselves. At Lynn-Ette, fear has become a daily companion. "It’s a problem, working the way things are, it’s too difficult because of the fear of leaving home and the uncertainty of whether we’ll return, the constant fear of being arrested, or the fear and panic caused by what we hear from around us," one worker told Documented on condition of anonymity. Another echoed, "Working as an immigrant in this country under this president, with the mass deportation law, has become chaotic for people like us who run the risk every day of being detained by agents of the customs control institutions. The fear of going to work and not being able to return to our families, and going out and thinking that a raid awaits us outside, is something that has us living in fear."
The chilling effect is not limited to upstate New York. In California’s Fresno County, Dr. Kenny Banh’s Mobile Health and Learning clinic (Mobile HeaL) has provided free medical care to over 200,000 farm workers since 2018. The clinic brings healthcare directly to workers, setting up in places like parking lots outside Mexican bakeries. But as ICE raids have increased in open spaces—farms, taco stands, Home Depots—undocumented workers are now hesitant to seek medical help. "We have a large undocumented population here. And in today’s world they fear access to care. This is the reality," Banh told The Pulse. The Trump administration’s decision to cut one of Mobile HeaL’s grants forced Banh to reduce staff, but he remains determined to expand services again.
Back in New York, the UFW continues to press for justice. The union alleges that 11 workers detained in the May raid at Lynn-Ette are owed unpaid wages and has repeatedly reached out to the New York State Department of Labor for intervention. So far, the agency has not responded. Meanwhile, the fear of deportation continues to undermine organizing efforts, leaving many workers feeling isolated and vulnerable.
As the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign continues, the early warning signs are unmistakable: labor shortages, rising prices, shuttered businesses, and a climate of fear rippling through America’s fields and factories. For the immigrant workers who power the nation’s food supply, and for the communities that depend on them, the stakes have never been higher.
