Link to article in Good Fruit Grower

Story by Ross Courtney

Good Fruit Grower

June 16, 2025

Northwest cherry growers depending on local labor began harvest with low crew turnout as workers report fears of immigration enforcement.

Cherry growers told Good Fruit Grower that many of their crew members are staying away from orchards during the busiest time of year, worried that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, officers will raid their workplaces.

News reports of high-profile ag workplace raids in California and Nebraska, as well as protests in cities across America, have put a chill among pickers who normally would show up en masse to harvest the time-sensitive fruit, one of the Northwest’s most important cash crops. Cherry growers are expecting a relatively large, 214,000-ton crop.

In the Northwest, ICE agents have detained targeted individuals and sometimes bystanders who lack papers, industry officials said, but orchards and packing houses have not experienced any raids, they said.

“I haven’t heard of any direct enforcement actions against producers locally, but I have heard of unexpected labor shortages during the start of cherry harvest, which have largely been attributed to worker anxiety about travel and enforcement,” said Jon DeVaney, president of the Washington State Tree Fruit Association in an email. 

Attorneys Sarah Wixson of Yakima and Eamonn Roach of Pasco said they have heard of targeted detainments but no raids. Both frequently speak about labor issues at grower meetings.

“I’ve also heard reports of some workers responding to internet rumors about enforcement, which have caused some to leave or avoid work,” DeVaney said.

Small farms who don’t contract H-2A workers are feeling it the most, growers said. One Yakima Valley farm said only about 40 of their 60 workers showed up to pick one day last week. A Columbia Basin grower shared similar stories, though roughly a dozen of his employees were in fact detained on their way from California, he said.

The Trump administration has been sending mixed messages. 

Trump himself posted on social media that he wants to give farm, hotel and restaurant employers a break from ICE enforcement, while some news agencies have reported direct instructions from him to pull back. 

However, Brooke Rollins, U.S. Department of Agriculture secretary, posted that she supports “deportations of EVERY illegal alien” — though she acknowledged disruptions to the food supply would harm Americans.

“It took us decades to get into this mess, and we are prioritizing deportations in a way that will get us out,” she said.

Enrique Gastelum, CEO of Washington’s labor association WAFLA, said he and his colleagues were still trying to make sense of the comments.

“I am trying to understand; do I listen to the “heads” (Trump) side of the coin or the “tails” (Rollins) side of the coin on this?” he said in an email to Good Fruit Grower.

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse said he is relieved to hear that ICE is focusing more on criminal detainments, but he still hopes to craft a long-term fix.

“While I am glad to see ICE refocus their efforts on removing criminals, I am actively working with my colleagues and the administration to deliver long-term reforms that prioritize a strong, legal workforce for our farmers,” he said in an email to Good Fruit Grower.

The Republican, who owns a Yakima Valley cherry farm, has multiple times in the past decade backed legislation that would have allowed for the legalization of farmworkers and streamlined the H-2A program. It has never passed the full U.S. Congress.