Sounds more like extortion than racism. They know the immigrants won't call the police or arm themselves on account of getting in trouble themselves.
I'm starting to understand the reasons for helping unauthorized immigrants to become legal citizens, so they don't have to live in fear and just take it.
The field workers need to be armed at all times without fear of govt. retribution. The police should, and probably do, respect the right of the immigrants to defend themselves and their families, whether they're here legally or not.
If they don't already, the police need to turn a blind eye when a firearm is found in possession of one of these field immigrants. If they have to use it for self defence, it needs to be counted as that without the immigration status being a factor.
Les