Large-scale immigration raids at packinghouses and fields in California are threatening businesses that supply much of the country’s food, farm bureaus say. Dozens of farmworkers have been arrested recently after uniformed federal agents fanned out on farms northwest of Los Angeles in Ventura County,

The United States is a nation of immigrants, and California even more so, with twice the national percentage of immigrants. Just over a quarter of California’s roughly 40 million residents were born elsewhere, but in many parts of the Bay Area, immigrants account for over a third of the population.

An immigration sweep at the Santa Ana Home Depot was one of several reported in Southern California over the past week. The raids led to protests, some of which turned violent in downtown Los Angeles. Law enforcement officers have used flash-bang stun grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas on the crowds.

Farmworkers hid in fields on Tuesday as word spread that ICE agents were conducting raids in California’s breadbasket, an activist said.

At a peaceful vigil in downtown Los Angeles, interfaith community leaders came together for prayer, support and healing.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is promising to move forward with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Los Angeles despite the waves of unrest.

Immigration raids have fueled days of protests, resulting in hundreds of arrests in Los Angeles as demonstrations have spread across the nation.