Your guacamole may be helping Mexican cartels while US farmers pay the price

I was born and raised in California, where avocados weren’t just another item on the grocery list, they were a staple of my everyday diet.

Today, not much has changed.

My family loves avocados, my daughter asks for them constantly, and as someone who loves to cook, I incorporate them into just about every recipe I can.

But as a mom who believes deeply in the Make America Healthy Again movement , I’ve started thinking differently about the food I put on my family’s table.

MAHA has encouraged millions of Americans to look more closely at ingredient labels, additives and how our food is produced.

But I believe the conversation should go one step further: Where does our food come from? Who grows it? Are our agricultural supply chains safe and transparent? And are our purchases supporting American farmers? TRUMP CAN PROTECT CALIFORNIA AVOCADO FARMERS AND TAKE A BITE OUT OF MEXICAN CARTELS, TOO That is why I choose California avocados whenever I can.

California is home to nearly 3,000 avocado growers who contribute roughly $1.5 billion to the state’s economy each year while supporting thousands of American jobs.

Many are family farmers who have spent generations producing one of America’s favorite foods.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION EXPANDS 'PRODUCT OF USA' LABEL AS PUSH FOR AMERICAN-RAISED BEEF GROWS Yet they are increasingly competing against a massive influx of Mexican avocados produced under dramatically different economic and security conditions.

Mexico shipped 670,026 metric tons of avocados into the United States during the first half of 2026 alone, a 34% increase from the same period last year.

But the sheer volume of imports is only part of the story.

Mexico’s largest avocado-producing region recently resumed shipments to the United States after a security crisis forced U.S. agricultural operations to stop.

Mexico responded by deploying more than 1,500 soldiers and National Guard personnel to protect orchards, packing houses, inspectors, trucks and supply routes.

Consider how extraordinary that is.