“It Felt Like a War Zone”: Immokalee and LaBelle Survive One of the Worst ICE Crackdowns in Recent Florida History

danikafornear
Nov 13
4 min read

Yesterday, residents across Immokalee and LaBelle awoke to a scene that many described as a war zone. Before sunrise, helicopters circled low, tactical vehicles poured into rural neighborhoods, and multiple agencies formed roadblocks, checkpoints, and interception points along the paths farmworkers use every morning.

The information in this report comes directly from people who were physically present during the raids — farmworkers, mothers, neighbors, and bystanders who were on the sidelines as buses and work vans were stopped, surrounded, and emptied. Throughout the day, these residents reached out to community helpers, describing what they witnessed in real time. They asked that their identities be protected out of fear of retaliation — but they want the public to know exactly what happened.

The people being surrounded, detained, and dragged from vehicles were not violent offenders.

They were the very workers who keep Florida fed.

Families watched husbands, sons, daughters, and neighbors taken away in buses that roared down country roads without explanation. Mothers screamed on the roadside as their loved ones disappeared behind metal grates. Children clung to their parents, sobbing, while officers refused to say where those being detained were being taken.

Minors hospitalized after being forcibly removed

Residents reported that several minors were injured when law-enforcement officers forcibly removed them from a vehicle. Witnesses described children being pulled out, thrown to the ground, and left shaken and hurt. Later that morning, multiple minors were reportedly taken to a hospital for treatment.

Families said they were not told which hospital their children were taken to, nor who was responsible for their care.

Farmworkers dragged from buses en route to the fields

Residents also reported that dozens of agricultural workers were removed from early-morning buses transporting crews to the fields. Community members who were present said that several of the workers appeared injured after being pulled from the bus and required medical attention.

These workers were not resisting.

They were on their way to pick the crops that supply much of the region’s food.

People recording the raids were beaten — some severely, and some were arrested on false charges

Nearly every witness who reached out described the same terrifying pattern: anyone who attempted to record the raids was violently attacked.

People described seeing:

phones ripped from hands,
individuals slammed to the ground,
witnesses punched, shoved, or dragged,
people left bleeding or unable to stand,
officers threatening arrest simply for filming.

But it didn’t end with physical violence.

Several of the people who tried to record the raids were arrested and charged with crimes they did not commit, according to witnesses and community members who were present. Some of these individuals are reportedly still in holding, leaving their families without answers, without updates, and without any explanation for the charges.

In several cases, bystanders called 911 for those injured — not for the people being detained, but for the witnesses hurt by the officers responding to the scene.

According to multiple witnesses, the violence and arrests were direct and intentional — a clear attempt to stop documentation and silence anyone who dared to show the public what was happening.

Reports of sexual violence and assault emerge

Several women in Immokalee and LaBelle have disclosed experiences of sexual violence or assault connected to interactions with law-enforcement personnel during the morning’s operations.

These disclosures are real, and they are deeply concerning.

But the women are terrified.

They fear retaliation.

They fear further harm.

They fear their children being taken.

The patterns they describe are consistent with other raid-related abuses reported in rural communities across the country.

Families left stranded, traumatized, and destabilized

Throughout the day, calls poured into community helpers from families who didn’t know where to turn or what to do.

People reported:

children left home alone,
elders without caregivers,
mothers afraid to leave their houses,
workers too terrified to go to their jobs,
parents unable to reach their children,
entire households missing family members.

Some families lost their only transportation when the driver was detained.

Some lost their only source of income.

Others simply lost track of which hospitals, agencies, or facilities their loved ones were taken to.

One mother said she hid in a closet with her children for hours while officers detained her neighbor just outside her window.

Another said:

“We were hiding like criminals. But we’re not criminals. We were just trying to go to work.”

These are the people who feed Florida, who feed our nation

Immokalee feeds Florida.

LaBelle sustains Florida’s agricultural labor force.

The people targeted yesterday harvest the fruits and vegetables that end up on Florida tables. They work in fields, packing houses, construction sites, restaurants, landscaping crews, nurseries, factories, hotels, and homes.

They are the backbone of this region.

They are not a threat to public safety.

They are a lifeline.

This was not public safety. This was state violence.

Nothing about what happened resembled community protection.

This was not about reducing crime.

This was not about preventing danger.

This was not about keeping families safe.

This was overwhelming, militarized force directed at the poorest workers in Florida — many of whom have no legal resources, no advocates, and no meaningful way to report abuses without risking their lives and families.

Yesterday, they were treated as though their existence were a crime.