Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, LITIGATION NEWS, TRENDS—Farm worker union sues DHS after members subjected to ‘unlawful dragnet’, (Feb 27, 2025)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

“Operation Return to Sender,” the complaint contends, “tore families apart and terrorized the community. It also violated the law.”

United Farm Workers, the largest farm worker union in the United States, has filed a putative class action suit in federal court in California on behalf of its members, alleging that they have been harmed by Border Patrol’s unlawful stop, arrest, and expulsion practices and fear being subjected to those practices in the future.

“Operation Return to Sender.” The lawsuit describes that in January 2025, Border Patrol agents based at the United States-Mexico border traveled north to Bakersfield to launch a nearly weeklong sweep through predominantly Latino areas of the area “to stop, detain, and arrest people of color who appeared to be farm workers or day laborers, regardless of their actual immigration status or individual circumstances.”

At least four UFW members, it alleges, have been subjected to Border Patrol’s practice of conducting stops without regard to reasonable suspicion and effecting arrests without regard to probable cause of flight risk. Two of its members, it alleges, also were coerced into accepting expulsion via voluntary departure.

Union’s members are afraid of being targeted. “Many UFW members,” it adds, “regardless of the stability or permanence of their immigration status, fear Border Patrol will continue to target farm workers with its unlawful practices, especially those who appear non-white.”

One of the named plaintiffs is a U.S. Citizen and one is a lawful permanent resident; all have lived and worked in the United States for many years.

The suit seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions, among other relief.

The case is No. 1:25-cv-00246.

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