Cherry harvest is well underway in Oregon. But some workers aren't showing up (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

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Oregon cherries are some of the best. This makes me sad.
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Oregon Public Broadcasting | By Alejandro Figueroa
Published July 9, 2025 at 3:28 PM PDT

Last month, Ian Chandler was ready to start the cherry harvest at his farm. Usually he’d start the season with about 100 workers, many of them Latino or Hispanic migrant workers who live in California. Some are from Oregon and Washington too.

But this year, fewer than half showed up.

“People have been trickling in,” Chandler said. “But in the beginning we had a lot of people who were scared to come up.” Chandler, who owns and runs a 300-acre cherry and pear orchard with his wife in Wasco County, said the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement efforts are keeping many migrants who usually follow the harvest from making their way north to Oregon and Washington. And it’s not just Chandler. Farmers across the Pacific Northwest are sounding the alarm on a tight labor pool that could put some out of business and leave fruit rotting in the fields.

In June, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents targeted workers picking blueberries and packing produce in California – which has alarmed people.

“And what happens is if our workforce comes from the area where that’s happening, it affects us because we rely on migrant and seasonal farmworkers,” Chandler said.

https://www.klcc.org/economy-business/2025-07-09/cherry-harvest-is-well-underway-in-oregon-but-some-workers-arent-showing-up