Immigrant US farmworkers prepare for Trump mass deportation plan

Jan 17 (Reuters) - Immigrant farmworkers are preparing for incoming U.S. president Donald Trump's promise of mass deportations, including by assigning guardians for their children if they are detained, according to groups providing them legal support.

Rising demand for such legal services reflects anxiety that Trump will follow through on a campaign vow to deport millions of undocumented immigrants once he is sworn in to office Jan. 20, something that could have an outsized impact on the country's agricultural sector, which heavily relies on their labor.

About half of hired farmworkers nationwide lack legal immigration status, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and farm trade groups have warned deporting them could bring the country's food production to a halt.

"The administration is not yet sworn in, but people are already afraid," said Sarait Martinez, executive director of the Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño (CBDIO), an organization that supports indigenous Mexican farmworkers in the Central Valley of California.

Representatives of four U.S. rural and legal advocacy organizations, including CBDIO, told Reuters they have seen as much as a ten-fold increase in interest from immigrant farmworkers in workshops and resources they provide on what to do if confronted by immigration officials and how to ensure their family’s security if they are detained.

The workshops can include role-play confrontations with immigration officials and instructions on how to prepare for potential enforcement: like filling out forms assigning temporary guardians to their children, assigning an alternate to pick up pay, or giving permission for the...
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