In Washington Orchards, Immigration Crackdown Sows Fear and Uncertainty

In Washington orchards, immigration crackdown sows fear and uncertainty

The Trump administration’s deportation push has caused turmoil within the state’s farm labor workforce as federal legislation meant to improve the situation has stalled.

Farmworkers Press On in Washington Orchards Amid Deportation Concerns

UNION GAP, WA – On a chilly fall morning, farmworkers fanned out through an orchard here to pick rose-hued apples from green rows of trees that flank this central Washington valley’s irrigated slopes.  These Pink Ladies were one of the last varieties to ripen in a harvest season that began in late summer amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Local farmworkers — many of them immigrants without legal status — were on edge, while g…