How many workers are undocumented?

About 40% of the nation's nearly 1.2 million hired farmworkers lack legal status, according to the Agriculture Department. In California, which produces over a third of the nation's vegetables and three-quarters of its fruits and nuts, undocumented migrants make up more than 75% of agricultural labor. Some are skilled supervisors who oversee planting and harvesting; others operate and maintain tractors, irrigation systems, and other machines crucial to modern farming. Other food production industries also rely heavily on migrant labor, with 30% to 50% of the country's 500,000 meatpacking workers lacking visas. All are now at high risk of detention and deportation, because workplace raids have proved to be one of the easiest ways for Immigration and Custo

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