By Kristina Cooke and Marisa Taylor
BAKERSFIELD, California, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Federal immigration agents have fanned out across California’s Central Valley in recent weeks, stirring fear in Latino communities and allegations of voter intimidation in a toss-up race that could help decide control of the US House of Representatives.
The planned surge in California was announced to agents in early October, an internal email seen by Reuters shows. And it was directed by the White House, according to a US
official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Unlike past operations in big cities like Minneapolis and Chicago that put hundreds of armed, masked agents on the streets, the surge here has been characterized by small groups of officers moving from town to town in the largely agricultural region. The United Farm Workers union said it knew of hundreds of California farmworkers detained in recent weeks.
In Bakersfield, immigration arrests jumped from one a day for much of the year to nearly 10 per day in mid-October, according to preliminary Department of Homeland Security data. In nearby Wasco, home to just 26,000 people, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested at least seven people in the span of a few days, the data showed.
The arrests have caused widespread alarm in the Latino-majority areas - and could have implications for Tuesday’s midterm elections, in which Republicans will be fighting to retain control of the House and Senate.
In California’s 22nd congressional district, which includes Bakersfield and is 73% Latino, polls have shown progressive Democrat Randy Villegas with a slight edge over six-term Republican incumbent David Valadao.
Villegas told reporters last week that the arrests were a “very clear attempt to try and intimidate our communities before this election."
Valadao said in a statement that he understood "the fear and uncertainty immigration enforcement has created for families throughout our communities," urging the Trump administration to "prioritize the removal of individuals who pose a threat to public safety."
The DHS, ICE’s parent agency, declined to comment on the California operations, citing concerns for officer safety, and did not respond to the allegations of voter intimidation.
“By all metrics, this should be a very close district,” said Thad Kousser, co-director of UC San Diego’s Center for Transparent and Trusted Elections. “Anything that drives voters to or away from the polls could matter.”
President Donald Trump made historic inroads with Hispanic voters in the 2024 election, but polls show public opinion has turned sharply against his immigration sweeps and economic policies.
Just 24% of Hispanic Americans approve of Trump’s performance, the lowest share in either of his presidential terms, a Reuters/Ipsos survey found last month.
In a statement, White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said that Trump’s agenda had made Hispanic Americans “more prosperous and safer” and referred questions on ICE operations in California to DHS.
CLIMATE OF FEAR
Across the Central Valley, ICE has made arrests outside homes and at busy intersections, in strip mall parking lots, gas stations and near schools, according to lawyers, immigration advocates, videos and court records.
"Agents were given the green light to be out and make as many arrests as possible,” the US official said. Officers are also auditing records at local businesses and using employee information to arrest workers at their homes or on their daily commute, the official added.
Maribel Ramirez, a local farmworker, said the arrests have had a chilling effect on political activity in the area. She said that some young Hispanics with US citizenship have told her they are scared to vote, fearing it could expose the addresses of family members without legal status.
Even though voter information is meant to be private, some of “those who can vote won’t do so because their parents are immigrants,” she said.
Ramirez is urging every US citizen she knows to cast a ballot, “but not for anyone in red,” referring to Republicans.
Immigration activists in the area who have been sharing alerts about ICE sightings on social media are also, in some cases, sharing details about the midterm elections.
There are fewer people on the streets in Bakersfield, according to Ana Valencia, who owns a barber shop in town. Some local businesses are offering free delivery to those afraid to leave their homes.
Valencia says she voted early “because I don’t want ICE here, or anywhere really.”
Villegas has made the arrests a campaign issue, criticizing his opponent for voting to triple ICE’s budget and failing “to stand up for immigrant communities.”
Valadao has said ICE is targeting criminals in the community. In an interview with the Sacramento Bee published this week, he said the agency had gone too far in some cases but declined to give examples.
Jason Giannelli, 41, a fourth-generation farmer in Kern County who supports Valadao, said the Republican was “middle of the road” on immigration and “understands that probably ICE is going after the worst of the worst."
FARMWORKERS TARGETED
UFW national Vice President Elizabeth Strater told Reuters that the vast majority of farmworkers detained in recent weeks had no criminal records and some had legal work authorization.
A brother and sister from Mexico were unloading their shopping in a small town in Kern County in late October when immigration agents arrested them, a relative told Reuters, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
It was their day off from work in the fields nearby.
The agents were looking for someone else and did not know whom they had picked up until the handcuffs were on, according to a petition filed by the farmworkers' lawyers in federal court contesting their detention as unlawful.
The sister arrived in the US as an unaccompanied minor more than a decade ago, according to the petition. The brother arrived as a toddler. Neither has criminal records, the petition says.
DHS said it did not have enough information to comment on the case.
On the day of the arrest, the woman's 3-year old daughter was at daycare and her 11-year-old son was on a school camping trip. The children’s father had died suddenly this year, leaving their mother as the sole caregiver.
The 11-year-old returned home excited to see his mother, the relative said. When he heard she had been arrested, he broke down in tears and cried out for her.
The 3-year-old perks up whenever the phone rings, the relative said, asking if her mother is on the line.
(Reporting by Kristina Cooke in Bakersfield and Marisa Taylor in Washington, DC, Additional reporting by Perla Shaheen. Editing by Jesse Mesner-Hage and Deepa Babington)
