Citrus harvest 'virtually halted' as workers fearing Trump order skip work: report

President Donald Trump made major promises during the 2024 campaign to lower the cost of groceries.

However, it appears that the president's executive orders on immigration could be throwing a wrench into any progress being made to lower the cost of food.

NBC Bay Area reports that the citrus harvest in California's Central Valley has been "virtually halted" because migrant farmworkers have skipped work en masse in the wake of Trump's sweeping executive orders cracking down on undocumented immigrants.

The report notes that the timing of Trump's actions has been particularly troublesome for Central Valley farms because it's currently "the peak of citrus harvest season," which means that grocery stores could soon be hit with shortages of fruits such as oranges.

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Monterey County Farm Bureau Executive Director Norm Groot tells NBC Bay Area that he's "certainly very concerned about what is happening and how that is unfolding" and added that immigrant workers are "not going to show up for work and that means crops will remain in the field and not be harvested and probably lost at that point."

Citrus isn't the only staple of the American diet that is facing upward pressure on prices, as the price of eggs and coffee has also reportedly been surging in recent weeks.