by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News

As I wrote on Inauguration Day earlier this week, President Donald Trump is beginning his second term by invoking three major “emergency orders” which give him the power to take broad and sweeping actions to accomplish his goals that would otherwise be illegal if a “state of emergency” had not been declared to grant these alleged “emergency powers”.

Now, a couple of days since taking office, we are beginning to see the effects of one of those “emergency orders,” which is to indiscriminately round up people living in the U.S. who are suspected of being here illegally, without any warrant issued by a judge.

These warrantless searches are now being extended into people’s homes, into churches, and into schools for children. At the same time these raids are being rolled out, stock in private prison companies where all of these illegal immigrants will be housed has skyrocketed in value since Trump’s election victory.

The first of these sweeping raids has been reported in California in the Central Valley, home to the largest agricultural production not only in the U.S. but also the world, bringing fear to the agricultural laborers our nation’s food supply is dependent upon, who are now staying home from work and pulling their children out of schools.

Food shortages and food inflation are sure to follow, making this a national security issue and a threat to the U.S. economy, in spite of the lies coming from the Trump camp that these warrantless immigration raids are necessary to protect national security, when in fact these actions threaten to do the exact opposite.

Just days before Trump took office, Sergio Olmos, writing for Cal Matters, reported on an immigration raid in Bakersfield, California, and the impact not only on the migrant workers and their families, but also on the American businesses that serve them.

A surprising immigration raid in Kern County foreshadows what awaits farmworkers and businesses

“If this is the new normal, this is absolute economic devastation,” says one local economist.

Excerpts:

Acres of orange groves sat unpicked in Kern County this week as word of Border Patrol raids circulated through Messenger chats and images of federal agents detaining laborers spread on local Facebook groups.

The Border Patrol conducted unannounced raids throughout Bakersfield on Tuesday, descending on businesses where day laborers and field workers gather. Agents in unmarked SUVs rounded up people in vans outside a Home Depot and gas station that serves a breakfast popular with field workers.

This appears to be the first large-scale Border Patrol raid in California since the election of Donald Trump, coming just a day after Congress certified the election on January 6, in the final days of Joe Biden’s presidency.

The panic and confusion, for both immigrants and local businesses that rely on their labor, foreshadow what awaits communities across California if Trump follows through on his promise to conduct mass deportations.

“It was profiling, it was purely field workers,”

said Sara Fuentes, store manager of the local gas station.

Fuentes said that at 9 a.m., when the store typically gets a rush of workers on their way to pick oranges, two men in civilian clothes and unmarked Suburbans started detaining people outside the store.

“They didn’t stop people with FedEx uniforms, they were stopping people who looked like they worked in the fields.”

Fuentes says one customer pulled in just to pump gas and agents approached him and detained him.

Fuentes has lived in Bakersfield all her life and says she’s never seen anything like it.

In one instance, she said a man and woman drove up to the store together, and the man went inside. Border Patrol detained the man as he walked out, Fuentes said, and then demanded the woman get out of the vehicle.

When she refused, another agency parked his vehicle behind the woman, blocking her car.

Fuentes said it wasn’t until the local Univision station showed up that Border Patrol agents backed up their car and allowed the woman to leave.

Fuentes says none of the regular farm workers showed up to buy breakfast on Wednesday morning.

“No field workers at all,” she said.

Growers and agricultural leaders in California and across the nation have warned that Trump’s promised mass deportations will disrupt the nation’s food supply, leading to shortages and higher prices.

In Kern County this week, just the word of the deportations inspired workers to stay away from the fields.

“People are freaked out, people are worried, people are planning on staying home the next couple of days,”

said Antonio De Loera-Brust, director of communication for the United Farm Workers. De Loera-Brust said the Border Patrol detained at least one UFW member in Kern County as they “traveled between home and work.”

Videos shared in local Facebook groups and Instagram pages show Border Patrol agents pulling over vehicles along the 99 Highway on Tuesday and Wednesday in Bakersfield.

“They were stopping cars at random, asking people for papers. They were going to gas stations and Home Depot where day laborers gather,” said Antonio De Loera-Brust.

“It’s provoking intense anxiety and a lot of fear in the community.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not respond to a request for comment. On social media, Gregory K. Bovino, the Border Patrol chief in El Centro, called the sweeps “Operation Return to Sender.”

“We are taking it to the bad people and bad things in Bakersfield,”

the El Centro Border Patrol said in response to a comment on its Facebook page.

“We are planning operations for other locals (sic) such as Fresno and especially Sacramento.”

“We’re in the middle of our citrus harvesting. This sent shockwaves through the entire community,”

said Casey Creamer, president of the industry group California Citrus Mutual, on Thursday.

“People aren’t going to work and kids aren’t going to school. Yesterday about 25% of the workforce, today 75% didn’t show up.”

He pushed back on the Border Patrol’s claims they’re targeting bad people. He said they appeared to be general sweeps of workers.

“If this is the new normal, this is absolute economic devastation,”

said Richard S. Gearhart, an associate professor of economics at Cal State-Bakersfield. (Full article.)

The agricultural fields of America’s farms in border states are not the only place where Trump’s new sweeping “emergency powers” are being felt with warrantless immigration raids. Such raids are being threatened in America’s major cities as well, and it was reported yesterday that federal police were seen pulling people out of their homes in Boston.

Church leaders and school officials, as well as the transportation companies who bus children to school, have all vowed to fight back and not allow these searches without a warrant from a federal judge, as is required by law.

Are County Sheriffs the Solution to Rounding up Migrant Criminals without Federal Over-reach into Destroying the Constitution with Warrantless Raids?

Conservative Republican California Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux. Image source.

Through all of these warrantless raids and roundups, the Trump Admin is insisting that they are only arresting and detaining known criminals.

And whether “Liberal” or “Conservative”, getting rid of migrant criminals seems to be the one issue that everyone agrees upon.

It is the suspension of the protections of the Constitution to cast dragnets out over wide areas of the population to find these criminals that is so troubling, and will now face legal challenges.

How would you feel if federal agents came into your community, and starting searching your homes, or stopping your cars on highways, to try and find local criminals?

This is a clear violation of the civil liberties protected in the U.S. under the Bill of Rights.

Cal Matters published an article earlier this week stating that if the goal was to deport migrant criminals, then county sheriffs would be in the best position to do this, who already live and work in these communities, and are elected by their constituents to maintain law enforcement in their communities.

Trump wants to deport immigrants accused of crimes. California sheriffs could make that easy

California sheriffs once again find themselves navigating a difficult political calculus on immigration as President Donald Trump begins his second term.

They can enforce a state sanctuary law that some of them personally oppose, or they can roll out the welcome mat to federal immigration enforcement authorities whom Trump has promised will carry out the largest deportation program in American history.

Some California sheriffs have pledged not to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement authorities, based on their own policies or laws passed by their counties, and will forbid immigration agents from using county personnel, property or databases without a federal warrant.

Others said that while California law prevents direct cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, immigration authorities are free to use their jail websites and fingerprints databases to identify people of interest.

“Several state leaders would prefer we do not have any communication with ICE, however, that is not what (the laws) say,” said Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni.

“ICE may access jail bookings through our public website and fingerprint information put into the national database to identify any incarcerated persons of interest to them.”

CalMatters attempted to contact all 58 sheriff’s offices in California. Twenty-seven responded by Friday afternoon.

Most sheriffs who responded simply said they will follow state law, spelled out in a bill passed during the first Trump administration that limited California law enforcement participation in immigration enforcement.

California sheriffs could play an influential role in determining whether someone gets arrested and deported because they manage the state’s local jail system, where people suspected of committing crimes are held while awaiting trial.

A bill named after a slain Georgia nursing student that is expected to pass in Congress could enhance sheriffs’ sway over immigration enforcement by prioritizing deportations of undocumented immigrants arrested on suspicion of burglary and shoplifting, regardless of whether they’re convicted.

The majority of sheriffs who responded to a CalMatters inquiry said they were balancing their duties with their need for cooperation from frightened immigrant communities. They worry those communities will shun all law enforcement if they fear deportation based on their immigration status alone.

“You don’t know how many calls I’ve gotten from Hispanics in my area that I’ve known, I’ve grown up with, they’re all worried about family members,” said Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall.

“I’ve got in-laws through my children calling me because they’re concerned, but let’s look at the ability to actually enforce this crap.

“Hell, I’ve got 50 deputies and I can barely keep a lid on crime in a county of 90,000. How are these guys coming out here with all of this ‘We’re gonna deport 10 million people’ or something.

No, that’s ridiculous. It’s not gonna happen.” (Source.)

Sheriff Mike Boudreaux from Tulare County in California, is a Conservative Republican who ran for Kevin McCarthy’s vacated Congressional seat in the Republican primaries last year (but lost), and is a solid Trump supporter.

He has a solid track record in his county in California for arresting drug cartel members, and has often put his life on the line to do so, keeping his community safe from illegal drug dealing.

But even he sees the dangers of federal over-reach and the delicate balance he must maintain to keep law and order in his community with the non-criminal migrants that are essential to the nation’s food supplies, and are respected members of the community.

Several California sheriffs were outspoken critics of the sanctuary law during Trump’s previous presidency. A group of San Joaquin Valley sheriffs traveled with Trump to the border in 2019, where they endorsed his immigration policies.

One of them, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, said he doesn’t agree with California’s sanctuary law, and said any governor who supports it should be removed from office.

But Boudreaux said he wants to distinguish between targeted enforcement of “felonious” people, which he supports, and massive immigration raids.

“Now, if they come into the area saying, ‘Hey, we’re just going to scoop up as many people as we can that are here illegally,’ we’re not going to do that, because (we) have a community to serve,” Boudreaux said.

“If you can separate the difference between that, you should be able to see what I mean.”

Boudreaux pledged to keep working with federal immigration authorities within the parameters of California law. (Source.)

Indeed, Conservatives and Libertarians have preached for years now that Constitutional Sheriffs at the county level are Americans’ protection against the abuses and over-reach of the federal government.

I myself have reported on these Constitutional Sheriffs many times over the years, such as when they have intervened to protect Amish dairy farmers who sell raw milk to their communities, and the federal government sends in agents to shut down such operations. Here is one story from 2011 that we covered:

Local Sheriffs vs. the Feds: Who is Protecting our Constitutional Rights?

The Zionist Trump MAGA crowd is foolish to support Trump in these warrantless searches into churches, schools, and private homes all for the sake of what has been declared a “national emergency” at the border and giving Trump the power to bypass the Constitution.

If you support him now on these actions, what are you going to do when he sends federal agents to YOUR home, YOUR church, or YOUR children’s school to enforce his next “national emergency,” which could be to suppress “antisemitism” speech in your church, or enforce health edicts such as lockdowns and mass vaccination campaigns?

Are you going to be so quick to forget and forgive him for what he did in 2020 with such over-reaching powers, and how America’s churches responded to mass vaccination campaigns for Trump’s experimental COVID injections?

Stock in Private Prison Group Soars for ICE Mass Detentions after Trump EO

Detained men walk to a recreation area at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center run by private prison company The Geo Group, in Tacoma, Wash., in 2019. TED S. WARREN/ASSOCIATED PRESS. Source.

One of the things Donald Trump did in his first day in office earlier this week, was to reverse former President Joe Biden’s executive order on private prisons, which had barred contracts between the Department of Justice and private detention centers. (Source.)

One private prison corporation in particular, the GEO Group, has assured ICE that they are “Prepared to Monitor ‘Millions of Individuals’ as Mass Arrests and Deportations Loom in U.S.” (Source.)

And as a result of this, The GEO Group’s stock has soared since the election, by over 142%.

While much has been said about big tech and big oil as sectors likely to see major benefits from the second Trump administration, the private prison industry – sometimes referred to as the prison-industrial complex – has been, in many ways, leading the stock market charge since November 2024.

Perhaps the most decisive winner of the rally, at least by January 23, has been Geo Group (NYSE: GEO), whose stock soared approximately 142% since the election and is up 22.43% year-to-date (YTD).

One reason why GEO shares have, with their press time price of $34.26, soared above their 2017 highs is the new administration’s immigration policy. (Source.)

And remember, these ICE warrantless searches and detentions are not just simply happening at the border, but are poised to be rolled out to every major city in the U.S., with this massive private prison system all set to confine millions of people in the U.S.

It was reported yesterday, in the LA Times, that the National Labor Relations Board has accused The GEO Group of retaliating against immigrant detainees who protested working conditions.

Prison company retaliated against detained immigrants, labor board says

Private prison company GEO Group has been accused by the National Labor Relations Board of retaliating against immigrant detainees who protested working conditions inside a California facility.

GEO Group punished detainees housed at its detention center in Bakersfield who signed a petition and participated in a work stoppage to protest wages and other working conditions, federal labor regulators alleged in a Jan. 6 complaint by a regional NLRB office in Los Angeles. Protesters had commissary privileges revoked, were placed in solitary confinement and faced disciplinary write-ups, the complaint alleges.

Some of the detainees also launched a hunger strike in February 2023, and in response the company “forcibly removed” workers and transferred them to a detention center in El Paso, according to the complaint.

The two detainees named in the complaint, Pedro Jesus Figueroa Padilla and Jose Ruben Hernandez Gomez, held cleaning and maintenance jobs at GEO Group’s Bakersfield facility, where the company houses people detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The men were paid $1 per day for the work, their attorney said.

The California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, an organization that represents the detainees and has previously sued the GEO Group over wages, called the NLRB’s complaint “a landmark move for workers’ rights,” because it recognized detained workers as employees under federal law.

GEO Group spokesperson Christopher Ferreira said in an email that the company “strongly disagrees with and disputes the allegations.” (Full article.)

If Trump has his way with these sweeping new “emergency powers” he believes he has, all of us who do not kiss Trump’s a#$ could end up in one of these facilities, especially after the new “antisemitism” EOs and laws are enacted, where support of modern day Israel will be required, and free speech to disagree with the Zionists will be punished.

The only question left is going to be: Will the U.S. military and law enforcement go along with all of this?

And remember, under Trump’s first term as POTUS, fentanyl addiction INCREASED, and most of the people on the streets addicted to fentanyl started with “legal” U.S. doctor prescriptions for opioids.

The Mexican cartels are funded and run by the U.S. Government, and that is not going to change under Trump.

If anything, it is going to increase.

See:

Trump’s Huge Border “Control” Business is U.S. National Policy – Exposing Border Myths and Trump’s Lies

Comment on this article at HealthImpactNews.com.

See Also:

Understand the Times We are Currently Living Through

Who Controls the World? by Dr. A. True Ott

Where is Your Citizenship Registered?

American Christians are Biblically Illiterate Not Understanding the Difference Between The Old Covenant vs. The New Covenant

Exposing the Christian Zionism Cult

Jesus Would be Labeled as “Antisemitic” Today Because He Attacked the Jews and Warned His Followers About Their Evil Ways

Insider Exposes Freemasonry as the World’s Oldest Secret Religion and the Luciferian Plans for The New World Order

Identifying the Luciferian Globalists Implementing the New World Order – Who are the “Jews”?

The Brain Myth: Your Intellect and Thoughts Originate in Your Heart, Not Your Brain

Fact Check: “Christianity” and the Christian Religion is NOT Found in the Bible – The Person Jesus Christ Is

Was the U.S. Constitution Written to Protect “We the People” or “We the Globalists”? Were the Founding Fathers Godly Men or Servants of Satan?