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 House race that could help decide control of the US House of Representatives.
Why the raids matter now is timing. They are unfolding just days before Americans vote in the November 3 midterm elections, in a district where polls show a close contest, and where even a small shift in turnout could decide the seat. Experts say anything that drives voters toward or away from the polls in such a district could matter to the national outcome.
The planned surge in California was announced to agents in early October, according to an internal email seen by Reuters. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media, said the operation was directed by the White House. Agents were given the green light to be out and make as many arrests as possible, the official said.
Unlike past operations in big cities such as Minneapolis and Chicago, which put hundreds of armed, masked agents on the streets, the Central Valley surge has been characterised by small groups of officers moving from town to town across the largely agricultural region. 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.
Preliminary Department of Homeland Security data obtained by Reuters shows the scale of the change. In Bakersfield, immigration arrests jumped from about one a day for much of the year to nearly 10 per day in mid-October. In nearby Wasco, a town of just 26,000 people, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested at least seven people within a few days. The United Farm Workers union said it knew of hundreds of California farmworkers detained in recent weeks.
California’s 22nd congressional district, which includes Bakersfield, is 73 percent Latino. Polls have shown progressive Democrat Randy Villegas with a slight edge over six-term Republican incumbent David Valadao, and the race could help determine which party controls the House after Tuesday’s vote.
Villegas told reporters last week that the arrests were a “very clear attempt to try and intimidate our communities before this election.” He has made the raids a campaign issue, criticising Valadao for voting to triple ICE’s budget and failing “to stand up for immigrant communities.”
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.” He 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.
The Department of Homeland Security, 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. In a statement, White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said President Donald Trump’s agenda had made Hispanic Americans “more prosperous and safer” and referred questions on ICE operations in California to the Department of Homeland Security.
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.
Maribel Ramirez, a local farmworker, said the arrests have had a chilling effect on political activity in the area. She said 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 share 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.”
“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.”
Farmworkers targeted
United Farm Workers 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 authorisation.
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 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 a criminal record, the petition says. The Department of Homeland Security said it did not have enough information to comment on the case.
On the day of the arrest, the woman’s three-year-old daughter was at daycare and her 11-year-old son was on a school camping trip. Their 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 three-year-old perks up whenever the phone rings, the relative said, asking if her mother is on the line.
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.”
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 percent of Hispanic Americans approve of Trump’s performance, the lowest share in either of his presidential terms, a Reuters/Ipsos survey found last month.
What is confirmed is that arrests in the Central Valley have risen sharply, that the surge was planned and announced to agents in early October, and that the candidates in the district’s tight House race are now fighting over it in public. What is not confirmed is whether the enforcement surge will change how many people vote on Tuesday. Voters in California’s 22nd district head to the polls on November 3, and the result could help decide control of the House.
