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'I wake up worried'

President Trump paused ICE raids at farms, hotels and restaurants for four days before reversing course and resuming enforcement, causing fear across farms on the East End. NewsdayTV’s Virginia Huie reports. Credit: Randee Daddona

On a wet Wednesday morning, four men showed up to work just as they had done the day prior and would again the next. They wasted no time tending to grapevines, feeding animals and cutting and washing lettuce at three East End farms, all under the looming possibility that they could be targeted in the next immigration raid.

While immigration officials have stepped up deportation efforts across the country and locally, the men, all of whom entered the country illegally, still had a job to do.

A farmhand working on a North Fork vineyard Wednesday.

A farmhand working on a North Fork vineyard Wednesday. Credit: Randee Daddona

The administration indicated it would drastically increase arrests of people living in the country illegally to 3,000 a day. But among the immigrant workforce sector, there was a glimmer of hope after President Donald Trump suggested changes in immigration enforcement at farms and in the hotel leisure business last week, and according to The Associated Press later suspended arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels.

But the order was short-lived. On Wednesday, Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said, "Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safeguard public safety, national security and economic stability."

WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND

  • Immigrant farms workers say they face uncertainty and fear amid stepped up immigration enforcement efforts.
  • Enforcement efforts were paused at certain worksites Saturday but the order was then reversed.
  • Some industry representatives and advocates said shifting policies are adding to the workers' stress.

ICE inquiries

Industry representatives are worried about what that would mean for farms, restaurants and hotels, where many immigrants hold jobs.

Dorothy Roberts, president of the Long Island Hospitality Association, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been conducting "inquiries" at local hotels and restaurants and many employers are seeking the advice of their lawyers before divulging too much.

ICE has also showed up at farms across the state and detained some workers, according to one farm advocacy group.

Immigration is a concern that hangs over both sectors.

Newsday interviewed workers at farms on the North Fork on the condition that their last names not be published, due to immigration concerns.

At a vineyard, a dozen men guided grapevines into their trellis, carefully pruning some.

Alberto, a farmworker from Mexico, working at a farm on...

Alberto, a farmworker from Mexico, working at a farm on the East End on Wednesday. Credit: Randee Daddona

While the fear on the field was palpable, more so was a feeling of a fate slipping beyond their grasp. The workers at the vineyard and on the farms had traveled thousands of miles to build a new life, some forming families, others saving for a house or other dreams. Now their future is less clear.

'We are cautious'

Eddie, 22, said he’s been working more hours because there have been fewer seasonal immigrant workers hired. "We are cautious," he said, "Any moment [ICE] can come and round all of us up." "We have to keep forging ahead so long as we can," Eddie said. He applied for asylum with his parents when he arrived from Guatemala roughly 14 years ago, but he was only able to obtain a work permit, which has expired.

His 22-year-old cousin, Roberto, arrived two years ago and acknowledged the uncertainty is unsettling. "We are scared to go out on the streets and work, but we don’t have a choice, we need to work," Roberto said of his 54-hour workweeks.

U.S. citizens have not been lining up to work in the labor-intensive farming sector, which is facing a labor shortage. Many jobs in agriculture have fallen to immigrants. Nearly 68% of all farmworkers nationwide are not U.S.-born, according to the most recent data provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Onorio, a worker from Mexico, cleans harvested lettuce on Wednesday.

Onorio, a worker from Mexico, cleans harvested lettuce on Wednesday. Credit: Randee Daddona

At a vegetable farm, Onorio, 34, who was born in Mexico and has been in the United States for 20 years, washed lettuce in a large vat for the Community Supported Agriculture program, where members pay in advance for the farm’s seasonal harvest. Stacks of empty crates that still needed to be filled with vegetables stood behind him.

He said it seemed immigration officials have been indiscriminately targeting foreigners, even those without criminal records, leaving him on high alert.

Married with three children, ages 15, 13, and 11, he wakes up with angst. "I tell my family that I’ll let them know when I first leave work but in case they don’t hear from me to go to immigration to find out what happened," Onorio said.

Seasonal visa positions increase

Eve Kaplan-Walbrecht, owner of Garden of Eve organic farm in Riverhead, said farms "want to do the right thing," when it comes to hiring workers, but she added that the government, both Republicans and Democrats, need to do more to facilitate that.

Federal programs like the H-2A visa allow foreigners to work seasonally in farms across the United States for up to 10 months, according to the federal government. The USDA said the number of H-2A positions has increased sevenfold, from 48,000 positions in 2023 to 378,000 positions certified in 2025. Still, about 42% of crop workers across the country have no work authorization, according to the USDA’s most recent data.

Noemi Sanchez, the Long Island regional coordinator for the Rural Migrant Ministry, which helps connect people with services, said farmworkers are working a few more hours because the typical seasonal workers are not arriving with approved H-2A visas.

Some advocate groups like the New York Farm Bureau, said the H-2A program does not create a permanent solution.

"We need to be able to hire year-round employees, who often bring their families and settle in with farmers and settle in for many, many years and become part of the family. It’s not like the doom you hear with horrible criminals coming to work on farms," said Amanda Powers, the bureau’s spokeswoman.

"If that is true there isn’t a person out there who would disagree that you need to get them out," she said.

Immigration, Powers said, is the No. 1 concern among the roughly 12,000 farmers and agricultural businesses the bureau represents.

"All this flip-flopping is doing is adding to the No. 1 problem currently for both workers and employers," Powers said. "They just don’t know what is going to happen from one day to the next, aside from tearing people away who don’t actually deserve it."

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