By Edward Henderson, California Black Media
(CBM) – About 99% of the commercially grown crops consumed by people across the United States come from California, according to data compiled by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).
Between half and one-third of the farmworkers who help to grow, tend, harvest and package these crops live in the Golden State. That’s about 500,000 to 800,000 workers.
Astonishingly, 75% of them are undocumented.
“People are very afraid,” said Manuel Ortiz Escámez, a sociologist, audio-visual journalist, and co-founder of Peninsula 360, a news organization based in Redwood City.
“I hold interviews with people who later call and say, ‘Please do not publish anything, because I’m afraid of what could happen,’” he added.
Escámez spoke earlier this month during a news briefing organized by Ethnic Media Services (EMS) that addressed the plight of migrant workers in California, particularly those who live in the United States without legal status.
During an election year when immigration is a polarizing issue with strong opinions on all sides, Escámez says the lives and critical contributions of farmworkers have been reduced to soundbites or barbs in Left vs. Right talking points.
The fervent anti-immigration rhetoric these debates generate can brew hate and motivate hate crimes and hate incidents against migrants, creating an atmosphere of fear and danger among California’s farmworkers, advocates warn.
In these situations, the debate shifts from the virtues of legal vs. illegal immigration to politicians scoring political points by finding a group to blame for the country’s problems.
“Power in politics needs to invent a physically and morally repugnant enemy who wants to take what’s yours because the feeling of emergency creates unity and the need of a savior,” said Escámez. “That’s why migrants have always been the ideal enemy of some U.S. political campaigns … and the data shows that it works.”
No matter where Californians stand on immigration, the contributions migrant farmworkers make to California’s economy and the country’s food supply are undeniable.
In February 2024, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) calculated that immigration will generate a $7 trillion boost to gross domestic product over the next decade. A vast majority of these contributions come from immigrants like California’s farmworkers who perform jobs and endure conditions many Americans choose not to.
“I’m undocumented with a sliver of privilege. I’m still in a precarious position, but millions of people would love to be in my shoes,” said Gustavo Gasca Gomez, immigration outreach specialist and a Stop the Hate coordinator at the Fresno-based Education and Leadership Foundation.
“I can work, and I have social security. But I can’t vote or leave the country and return without express permission. And before I was a DACA recipient in 2012 I was a farmworker right out of high school,” said Gomez. “The work is difficult. It’s hot, dirty and tedious. It makes your mind numb in many ways. But it’s a job that the entire country depends on.”
If the stress of enduring long hours and harsh working conditions weren’t enough, the added pressure stemming from the national political discourse surrounding immigration has impacted these communities even more.
“Ninety nine percent of the communities we’ve reached out to are farmworkers and all have expressed anxiety and fear. All feel their future is deeply impacted by this,” said Gomez. “They’re most concerned about public charge, about being deported if they access benefits like health care that they or their children — who are often U.S. citizens — qualify for.”
Escámez said, that until now, many of these farmworkers had built good relationships, including with the White population in the mostly rural areas where they work.
“Now, they tell me they’re more isolated. That they just go to church, to work, to the store, then stay home, because they don’t know what could happen,” he said.
Arcenio Lopez, executive director of Ventura-based Mixtec Indigenous Community Organizing Project discussed the centuries-long history of oppression faced by indigenous communities and notes that they are the original people of the American continents and therefore are not immigrants.
“We talk about the politics, but the indigenous Mexican migrant communities we work with experience this hate daily,” explained Lopez. “We’re called ‘Oaxaquitas’ (‘little Oaxacan’) and ‘indito’ (‘little Indian’). We’re told what we speak is a dialect, not a language. We hear ‘You’re brown,’ ‘You’re short,’ ‘You’re ugly’ … When this language takes the mic, it gives the green light for these actions.”
Around 84% of California farmworkers are born in Mexico and 9% identify as indigenous
“When we talk about this, we should also mention why people leave their lands to come here. Many don’t want to,” he added. “If you go to Oaxaca, you’ll see so many companies from the U.S., Canada and Europe extracting natural resources. How does that impact indigenous communities who can’t compete, who don’t have trees or clean water? What are the decisions that this government is making? Who is in power?”
This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to CA vs Hate.
