And so it begins. A US Border Patrol unit out of El Centro, in Imperial County, conducted a surprise series of raids in and around Bakersfield last week, rounding up 78 undocumented workers, including farmworkers, in an operation that may be the first of many under the incoming Trump administration.The raids were part of "Operation Return to Sender," and while federal officials suggested that it was targeting people with criminal histories, witnesses and those arrested have told a different story, as the Chronicle reports. US Border Patrol agents targeted a Home Depot parking lot where day laborers gather, an area along Highway 99, and gas stations, according to Ambar Tovar, director of legal services for the United Farm Workers Foundation. At least two United Farm Workers members were among the detainees, and the operation appeared to be targeting an area in Kern County where farms are in peak citrus-picking season.More than half of California farmworkers are undocumented, according to this 2022 report by the Public Policy Institute of California, and farms and vineyards across the state are on edge as they anticipate the potential actions of ICE and Border Patrol under a second Trump administration."It’s clear the Border Patrol is feeling emboldened, and I believe this is the kind of thing that we will be seeing more of for the next four years," says Antonio De Loera-Brust, communications director for United Farm Workers, speaking to the Chronicle.The raids, which occurred January 7 to 9, were conducted by a US Border Patrol unit from 300 miles away in Imperial County. And David Kim, Assistant Chief Patrol Agent for U.S Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector, issued a statement saying that agents were only targeting individuals who had broken federal law, for drugs and other offenses. A spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection reiterated that saying that such operations "art of our efforts to dismantle transnational criminal organizations."Reinforcing this, El Centro agents posted these photos to Facebook of one detainee "who had a weapons charge warrant out of neighboring Tulare County." The post adds, "Locked and loaded — justice is served!"Per the Chronicle, the raids have sent a chill across the immigrant community in Bakersfield, where a number of children of immigrant families appeared to be taken out of school out of fear since the raids began.Photo via US Border Patrol El Centro Sector/Facebook