Gardeners on ICE raids: 'People are afraid, but they still have to work'

They’re known arsenic the “mow and blow” guys — the legion of predominately Latino gardeners driving pickup trucks and trailers bristling with tract mowers, weed whackers and different yard-care instrumentality arsenic they thin the yards of Southern California’s suburban neighborhoods.

But Daniel, a gardener who has lived undocumented successful the U.S. for 20 years, doesn’t deliberation of himself that way. He does a batch much for his clients — trimming plants, fertilizing and weeding too. In fact, immoderate of his clients person lone tiny lawns, oregon nary lawns astatine each these days, but they inactive request his services.

And helium inactive needs to work, contempt migration raids taking spot successful Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties; the second is wherever helium has tally his yard-care concern for 11 years.

Reflecting connected his precarious position, helium quieted his leafage blower and took disconnected his sunglasses, giving lone his archetypal sanction for safety’s sake.

“These times are truly hard and everybody is afraid,” helium said, referring to Latinos broadly — careless of migration status. “It’s truly not normal, and we’re ever being careful, but you know, we request to work. We request to wage our bills due to the fact that the bills are ever coming and they don’t stop.”

On this June morning, his 15-year-old girl joined him connected his rounds done a Ventura neighborhood. She and her sisters — 10 and 18 — were calved successful the United States, but her parents were calved successful Mexico. The girl was affable with a welcoming smile, but erstwhile the treatment turned to whether she and her household person discussed what volition hap if her parents are detained by immigration, she became arsenic superior arsenic her father.

Criticisms astir immigrants, interest astir her parents’ presumption — “that’s ever been portion of our experience, but present it’s overmuch worse,” she said quietly. “It feels similar a deficiency of empathy.”

An estimated 1.2 cardinal radical enactment successful landscaping and groundskeeping successful the United States, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and successful California, 88% of those workers are Latino and 68% are immigrants, according to a 2024 study by the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan, nonprofit deliberation tank. How galore of those immigrants are undocumented is unclear.

President Trump promised during his run that helium would ace down connected amerciable immigration, and 5 months into his term, migration raids person escalated astir alleged sanctuary cities successful the Greater Los Angeles area, including cultivation areas specified arsenic Ventura and Oxnard.

Earlier that morning, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had been spotted astir Ventura and successful the Ventura Police Department’s beforehand parking lot. The constabulary section posted connected societal media that its officers were not involved, declaring connected Instagram: “Our commitment: Safety for each careless of status.” Meanwhile, the Ventura College Foundation canceled its fashionable Weekend Marketplace, which draws 2,000 to 5,000 mostly Latino vendors and customers each play to the college’s parking lot, owed to concerns astir ICE activity, according to a recorded connection connected its phone.

Less than 3 miles distant from the constabulary parking lot, a scenery unit of 5 Latinos was moving successful a beforehand yard, gathering an intricate walkway from multi-shaped pavers. The brag said helium was beauteous definite his workers had their papers, but nary 1 wanted to speech due to the fact that adjacent citizens who are Latino were getting swept up successful enforcement actions. “People are afraid, but they inactive person to work,” helium said. “So we travel to enactment and spot what happens.”

A fewer miles away, a Latino landscaper with a shaggy salt-and-pepper beard waited successful his motortruck portion his unit loaded wheelbarrows and different instrumentality extracurricular a recently landscaped hillside location with a sweeping presumption of the Ventura coast. He came to the U.S. from Mexico 30 years ago, helium said, and has been moving successful landscaping successful Ventura for 25 years. He’s single, works with household members and “up until 2 weeks ago, I had nary interest astir anything,” helium said. “Now it [detention] is thing you interest astir each day.”

He’d planned to state up his motortruck that greeting but drove past the presumption erstwhile helium saw “law enforcement” vehicles astatine the pumps, due to the fact that helium was acrophobic they were ICE officials. “I took immoderate precautions,” helium said. “They haven’t travel up present yet; they’ve conscionable been connected the main streets. But I wage taxes each year. I work. As agelong arsenic we are present moving and contributing ...,” helium trailed disconnected and shook his head.

Daniel came to the U.S from Mexico immoderate 20 years ago, helium said. “Things were truthful hard successful Mexico everybody was jumping [to the U.S.] looking for a amended life.” At archetypal helium worked each occupation helium could find, roofing, gathering homes and moving successful a instrumentality store until 2014, “when I spot this accidental [to beryllium a gardener] and I instrumentality it.” Now, helium works 5 days a week, helium said, visiting 8 to 10 yards a time and charging his clients, connected average, astir $150 a month. His lone advertizing is connection of mouth.

If helium and his woman are detained, Daniel said, they person household adjacent who could assistance his daughters oregon “maybe we could instrumentality the girls to Mexico, but they privation to beryllium present and enactment successful school.”

Their eldest, helium said, is studying to go an anesthesiologist astatine a adjacent university. His daughters are hard workers, “good kids,” truthful leaving would impact them “really bad.” He glanced astatine his 15-year-old, who wants to beryllium an orthodontist, and was listening intently.

“I’m ever looking for a amended life,” helium said, “but erstwhile you person a family, what we deliberation astir about is the kids. I deliberation this is the constituent for each the parents — we person our kids present truthful perfectly they person a amended beingness than us.”

The fearfulness and vexation are prevalent passim the horticulture world. Terremoto Landscape, a landscaping steadfast with offices successful Los Angeles and San Francisco, posted accusation astir migrant rights prominently connected its website and connected Instagram.

“Landscape construction, attraction and the full labour motor of California would not beryllium imaginable without migrant labor,” said the Instagram post, which was accompanied by aggregate photos of scenery workers with their faces covered by achromatic boxes.

“But much importantly than that, immigrants are our friends, household and neighbors — our communities and lives are infinitely amended for their beingness successful Los Angeles, the Bay Area and crossed America. The actions of ICE and the National Guard — aided and abetted by the LAPD — implicit the past fewer days person made wide the xenophobic, vile and convulsive aims and evident mal-intent of the existent administration.”

The principals of the institution declined to beryllium interviewed, penning successful a substance that they privation to beryllium delicate to nongovernmental organizations supporting migrant communities.

Independent gardening enactment has agelong attracted radical excluded from different jobs, said scenery contractor Mike Garcia, proprietor of Enviroscape LA successful Redondo Beach. After World War II, for instance, galore Japanese Americans who had been held successful incarceration camps during the warfare moved into gardening enactment due to the fact that “no 1 would prosecute them for different jobs,” helium said.

There were truthful galore Japanese gardeners astir L.A. successful the 1950s that the California Landscape Contractors Assn. created a peculiar “Pacific Coast section for members of Asian heritage.” Membership waned implicit the years arsenic Japanese families moved distant from gardening and the section was precocious disbanded, said Garcia, who sits connected the committee of the association’s Los Angeles/San Gabriel Valley chapter.

As Japanese gardeners pulled distant from the field, Latino immigrants filled the void, Garcia said.

“If you’re caller to this country, a Latino looking for a amended beingness and you can’t find a occupation due to the fact that you don’t person immoderate papers, you tin prime up a lawnmower and commencement mowing lawns,” said Garcia. “Latinos who couldn’t talk English could inactive mow a tract and constitute retired an invoice, and they yet took implicit the gardening trade.”

Many Latino immigrants person to spell into indebtedness to question to the U.S., truthful they consciousness compelled to find enactment quickly, said Manuel Vicente, manager and shaper of Radio Jornalera, the integer connection limb of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which provides information, enactment and designation to migrant workers who person constricted options for work. Gardeners and landscapers are successful precocious request astir L.A., helium said, and the enactment doesn’t necessitate advertizing oregon adjacent English fluency.

“They spot it arsenic an accidental and they’re arrogant of the enactment they do,” Vicente said. “You tin spot erstwhile there’s a gait cipher is taking attraction of, and the workers travel and person that gait into thing beautiful, that’s gratifying for them.” And bully enactment helps drum up much business.

“In Spanish we person a saying, ‘El sol merchantability para todos,’ oregon the prima rises for everybody. It means everybody has the accidental to instrumentality a job,” Vicente said.

“Obviously determination are definite jobs immoderate radical are not consenting to bash ... due to the fact that of the wages oregon the difficulty, and others who are consenting to instrumentality it. I don’t spot that arsenic stealing jobs. For galore immigrants it’s the lone spot wherever they tin enactment to marque a surviving and survive.”

Vicente helped the National Day Laborer Organizing Network commencement Radio Jornalera successful Pasadena successful 2019 during Trump’s archetypal word to assistance Spanish-speaking immigrants recognize their rights.

“I’m a arrogant migrant, and I deliberation we should alteration the narrative,” Vicente said. “People deliberation everything incorrect with this state is due to the fact that of migrants, and that’s not true. I deliberation migrants are portion of the solution for this state and wherefore California has 1 of the biggest economies successful the world.”

Immigrants similar Daniel are moving and sending their children to college, Vicente said. “They came for a amended beingness and they’re gathering a amended federation here, but they’re besides sending wealth to their families successful their erstwhile country, truthful they’re gathering 2 nations. We should admit that.”

The ICE raids happening present consciousness similar radical persecution, helium said. “We are alert that they’ve already stopped aggregate citizens, radical who were calved here, due to the fact that they are brownish and acceptable the profile, truthful I deliberation nary 1 is safe. Everyone who looks Latino — and I don’t cognize what that is successful that profile, but possibly it’s conscionable a brownish idiosyncratic — truthful everybody successful our Black and brownish communities is nether attack.”

Over the weekend, Trump said helium had asked ICE to halt raids astatine large farms and hotels, but connected Sunday helium announced plans to grow migration enforcement actions successful large “Democrat-controlled” cities, including Los Angeles.

It’s hard for autarkic gardeners specified arsenic Daniel to bash their enactment unnoticed. Their trucks and trailers visibly transportation the tools of their trade. But the enactment is waiting, arsenic are their bills.

What’s astir galling, Vicente said, is that “the radical who don’t privation america present are benefactors of our work. Maybe we instrumentality attraction of their parents oregon their children; navigator their nutrient oregon cleanable their houses, bash their yards oregon physique their homes. They privation our labor, but they don’t privation to admit our humanity.”