Protesters Rally Against ICE Outside Major Ag Expo

The Fresno Bee reports:

Dozens of demonstrators protested outside the World Ag Expo on its opening day Tuesday to urge farmers and employers to take a stand against potential mass deportations of farmworkers in the Central Valley. Demonstrators held banners that read “Stop Deporting Workers” and “End Harmful Immigration Detention Policies” at the expo’s entrance on the corner of South Laspina Street and East Paige Avenue as attendees drove into the International Agri-Center in Tulare County for the annual ag trade show.

Demonstrator Stan Santos said they chose to protest mass deportations at the World Ag Expo to reach farm operators as thousands of farmworkers in the Valley currently work in the harvest of citrus fruits. Santos said last’s month U.S. Border Patrol operation in Kern County brought fear to the region’s immigrant communities of mass deportations. Fresno resident Gloria Hernandez, with Raza Against War, said “there is a war going on against the farmworkers” who were deemed essential workers during the pandemic.

Read the full article. Local high school students staged a walkout in solidarity.

Hundreds of students walk out of Fresno schools to protest mass deportations. ‘It affects us’ https://t.co/D4O5mAXBpY

— Fresno Bee (@FresnoBee) February 12, 2025