Immigration audits hit ag companies on the Central Coast

Immigration officials are auditing agriculture companies across the nation making sure they’re not employing illegal immigrants. The Central Coast is known for its agricultural fields.

Just in the past year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE said its audited more than a thousand ag companies across the country and most times they show up without notice. If you visit agriculture fields on the Central Coast you’ll likely find many of the workers are immigrants. The question is, how many are undocumented?

“I mean in terms of people that are working the fields it’s a high number, of people that don’t have immigration status,” said United Farm Workers, Ricardo Nunez.

A local ag company said it was given an email stating that ICE needed proof of I-9 verification for it’s workers. In some cases if an employee is found to be an illegal immigrant they must be terminated within 10 days. But the United Farm Workers said those undocumented immigrants, do have rights.

“They have rights in terms of remaining silent, and say that they want to talk to an immigration attorney prior to disclosing any information,” said Nunez.

KION spoke with an undocumented immigrant who said he’s worked in the fields for 15 years, and said he didn’t know about ICE’s recent regulations in the area.

“I know the United States has enough power to deport all of us but I would really like for them to one day do it all at once and then see where they are going to find the man power as cheap as ours,” said the undocumented immigrant.

“The other concern is they are starting to do this at the beginning of the season and ag employers are looking for workers and laborers to work in their fields to get them prepared and start the initial plantings,” said Monterey County Farm Bureau, Norm Groot.

Groot said in the past, ICE had given them a three day notice before showing up. Now with the possibility of ICE checking on these employers, these workers said not only are they in fear of losing their job, but also being deported.

“I’m frustrated mad and sad because they treat us like trash and we have one of the worst jobs, it’s hard and we’re paid below minimum wage,” said undocumented worker.

We contacted ICE for comment, the agency said it investigates businesses that hire unauthorized workers, subjecting them to dangerous work conditions. The Federal Government said it has collected more than $11 million in fines associated with these cases.