Latest news with #CesarChavez
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
What It Will Take to Get U.S. Citizens to Work the Farm — According to Dolores Huerta
The agriculture sector is on edge like never before. With ICE officers chasing undocumented immigrants through fields and barging into meatpacking plants, workers are spooked. Even before the farm raids, workforce shortages and economic uncertainty rankled the industry. Now, as harvest season arrives for many crops, concerns are growing that there may not be enough workers out there to feed the country. To Dolores Huerta, it's an unprecedented problem caused squarely by the Trump administration. 'It's an atrocity, what they've been doing to the immigrant community,' Huerta said in an interview with POLITICO Magazine. The longtime labor activist says the federal government's current approach is 'very, very different' than anything she's seen before. And the 95-year-old Huerta has seen a lot. She first began lobbying the California legislature on farm labor issues when she was just 25, and she founded an agriculture workers union soon after. In her early 30s, she partnered with civil rights leader Cesar Chavez to create the National Farm Workers Association, now the United Farm Workers. For years, she and Chavez worked in tandem, delivering major victories to protect farm workers from exploitation and exposure to dangerous pesticides. President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. The Trump administration is now struggling to reconcile its mass deportation efforts with the need to keep farm production going. Huerta is not optimistic about how it will all play out, though she was able to poke at Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins' recent suggestion that automation will soon replace human laborers. 'I guess I could just wait until they get enough robots to do the farm work,' Huerta joked. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. The Trump administration has launched farm raids targeting undocumented immigrants, which has sent a chill through the labor force and industry. You've advocated for farm workers for decades. Does the current climate feel familiar, or are we in a really different place? Oh, it's a very, very different place. Because in the past, in the '50s, when we had this 'Operation Wetback,' they were not putting people in jail. They would repatriate people. They would deport them, take them to the border. Somewhere along the way, I think during Newt Gingrich's time, they started putting people in jail, but then they would let them go. It was not putting people in prisons, like we're seeing right now. The kind of brutality, the horror, the kidnapping, endangering people's lives, separating the families — the way that Trump did in the last administration, and they're doing now, leaving all of these missing children — it's an atrocity, what they've been doing to the immigrant community. Many of those people that they have been picking up and arresting are farm workers. Here in Bakersfield, California, we were the first city to be hit. When Border Patrol came in, they arrested [78] people, and only one person had any kind of criminal record. And when they talk about a criminal record, it could be a traffic stop. It could be just that they came in, and they were deported, and came back in again. These are not violent crimes that we're talking about. They are, you might say, civil infractions, and yet they're being treated like they were criminals. This administration says it wants to get to a '100 percent American workforce.' It also has discussed rapidly expanding migrant visa programs, like H-2A. Do you see those two goals in conflict? How might that play out? Well, I think it would be really great to have American workers to work on farms. Farm work has been denigrated for so many years by the growers themselves, and they did this because they never wanted to pay farm workers the kind of wages that they deserve. Farm workers were essential workers during the pandemic. They were out there in the fields. So many of them died because they never got the proper protections that they needed. But they were out there every single day, picking the food that we needed to eat. Farm workers don't get the same kind of benefits or salaries that others get. We just recently did a study with the University of California Merced. Their average wage is $30,000 a year, $35,000 a year. And on that, they have to feed their families. A lot of them, unless they have a union contract, they're paid minimum wage. They're not respected. The whole visa program, the H-2A program, it's always been there. Cesar Chavez and I, when we started the United Farm Workers, one of the first things that we did was end the 'Bracero Program,' which was a similar [guest worker] program. Now they've increased these H-2A workers in agriculture. This is a step above slavery. They can't unionize. They don't get Social Security. They don't get unemployment insurance. Farmers save money by having these H-2A workers. They cannot become citizens. There is no way for them to even get a green card. If you were trying to get to a 100 percent American workforce, what's the solution here? Does it start with paying more competitive wages for workers? Or is it something else? Well, right now, we're trying to stop a detention center here in California City, which is up here in the Mojave Desert. They are offering the people to work in that center $50 an hour. In California, our minimum wage is $16. That's what a lot of workers get. Let's offer farmworkers $50 an hour, the same kind of a salary that you offer the prison guards, and you'll get a lot of American workers. We have very high unemployment in the Central Valley. We have the prison industrial complex, where a lot of our young people are going to prison. So many of these young people don't have to go to prison if they were paid adequately. I'm sure a lot of them would go and do the farm work, especially if they had good wages to do it. And we still have a lot of young people here in the valley that go out during the summers and they do farm work to help their families. I'm sure a lot of people that we now see that are homeless on the streets and that are able to work would go to work if they were paid $50 an hour. So it's just a matter of improving wages? And training, too. Because farm work is hard work. I mean, you've got to be in good physical shape to be able to do farm work. Why are undocumented workers such a large part of the agricultural workforce? Is it just that these are low-paying, hard jobs that Americans don't want to do, or is there more going on? Well, like I said earlier, the growers have denigrated the work so much that people don't realize that this work is dignified. Farm workers are proud of the work that they do. They don't feel that somehow they're a lower class of people because they do farm work. They have pride in their work. If you were to go out there with farm workers, you would be surprised to see that they have dignity, and they care about the work. They care about the plants. When we started the farm workers union way back in the late '50s and early '60s, you would be surprised how many American citizens were out there. Veterans were out there. The Grapes of Wrath was filmed here. All of those workers in that camp were white. It was the 'Okies' and 'Arkies,' the people that came from Oklahoma and Arkansas and those places to work in the fields. They were all white workers. There were some Latino workers, and then over the years, you had the Chinese, you had the Japanese, and different waves of immigrants that came in to do farm work. When did it change? Well, the growers always fought unionization, as they still do to this day. I'll give an example. There's a company called the Wonder Company. When you watch television, you see all of their ads for pistachios. They're billionaires. The United Farm Workers just won a recognition election, and they refused to recognize the union. When you have a union out there, you have a steward out there in every single crew, and their job is to make sure that there's a bathroom out there in the fields, which farm workers never had before. We had a big movement to get farmers just having toilets in the field and hand washing facilities, cold drinking water, risk periods, unemployment insurance, et cetera. This is the thing that we fought for, and the growers fought against it, right to the end. The Farm Bureau Federation fought against all of these improvements for farm workers, and they continue to fight. You supported the 1986 Reagan amnesty, when 1 million farm workers received legal status. The Trump administration has been adamant, for political purposes, that there will be 'no amnesty.' Do you think the administration could get to some sort of mass legalization for farm workers? If not, what happens next? The problem with this administration is, they're so racist. Racism rules, fascism rules with this administration. I don't know, I guess I could just wait until they get enough robots to do the farm work. What about pesticides? You've long fought against pesticide use in agriculture because of the effect of exposure on farm workers. Now, there's this 'Make America Healthy Again' push to get rid of pesticides. What do you make of that? Well, I think maybe that's one good thing that Robert Kennedy Jr. might do. His father was a champion for the farm workers. The pesticides — we should have gotten rid of those a long time ago. We didn't have pesticides until after World War II. There's a pesticide called paraquat. Paraquat is banned in Europe. It's banned in almost every country except the United States of America, and it is used right here in Kern County in California. It causes cancer. It causes leukemia. It causes Parkinson's disease, and we cannot get it banned in California. We know that when plants are planted, when food is planted, the pesticide is already in the seeds. We were trying to stop that in Washington, D.C., and were unable to. We were even just trying to get them to put information on it, so when you go in to buy your fruit, it would have a sticker on it that said, 'This particular fruit or vegetable has been treated with this pesticide.' It's in the fruit when you eat it. Just recently, we had about four or five young people in their late 40s, early 50s, all have died of cancer, and they're from Delano, California. Are these farm workers? No, but when they spray this stuff, it also goes into the towns. So nobody's really safe from it. Is this pesticide issue something you could collaborate or find some common ground with the Trump administration? Yeah, we would love to. But you know what? It's not going to happen, because pesticides really come from the petroleum industry. Have you discussed this with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., or would you be open to meeting with him? I know his father was a friend of yours and a great champion of your cause. I imagine, maybe, when we talk about this issue. I wouldn't agree with Robert Jr. on the issue of vaccinations, or fluoride in our drinking water, et cetera, and some of the issues that he espouses. I know him. I've known him for many, many years. I haven't spoken to him. He did try to contact me when he was running, and I didn't respond. I knew that the family, that Kerry and Ethel and the rest of them, were not happy about his supporting Trump. But you haven't spoken to him since he became HHS secretary? No. I know people that have spoken to him. The labor movement as a whole has an unusual relationship to Donald Trump, who claims to champion the working class. Do you think union leaders have more to gain by working with Trump, or by opposing him? What explains his appeal to many union members? Well, I can't speak for the Teamsters. I think there was a kind of a betrayal of the working people, because I know the majority of the labor unions went against Trump and endorsed Biden [in 2024]. I think that was very damaging. I think a good comparison is if you look at what they've done in Mexico with Claudia Sheinbaum and the president before her. They've done incredible work in Mexico right now because it has been very labor-focused, very working people-focused, in contrast with what's happening here in the United States, where we are very billionaire- and millionaire-focused. And so you can see in Mexico they've been able to increase pensions, increase the minimum wage, increase benefits for the working people. Last question: You're 95, what's your secret? What do you eat? I'm a vegetarian, and I just stay busy. I think you just have to stay busy. Solve the daily Crossword
France 24
01-08-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Famed union leader Dolores Huerta urges US to mobilize against Trump
With the administration of US President Donald Trump ramping up immigration raids targeting farmworkers, the veteran activist -- who co-founded the country's largest agricultural union more than 60 years ago -- is a galvanizing figure for those seeking to fight back. "People are reaching out because they want to do something," she told AFP during an interview at the headquarters of her Dolores Huerta Foundation in Bakersfield, an agricultural nexus in California's Central Valley. Born in New Mexico and raised in California, Huerta took the reins of the US farmworker movement in the 1960s along with the late activist Cesar Chavez. They created what is now United Farm Workers, launching an unprecedented fight for the rights of marginalized laborers who toil in the fields that feed America every day. At the time, Huerta was raising seven children -- she later had four more -- while going through a divorce. Finding the time to organize and mobilize workers remains as crucial as ever today, she said. "We've got to be a lot more active, because what's happening right now is so huge. I liken it to what was happening in Germany before Hitler took power," Huerta said. She argues that it is essential to prepare the electorate to vote in the 2026 midterms, which could reshape the US Congress. Both its chambers currently have Republican majorities. "This is the only way that this can be solved," she said. 'Si se puede' slogan Much has changed since her time as a young union leader, but one thing that has never gone away is racism, Huerta said. "I believe that that illness of racism is what has really contaminated our political system," said Huerta. "Trump is actually playing out that racism when he is again putting immigrants, and mostly people of color, into the detention centers" with "inhumane conditions," she said. Many have been sent to countries with which they have no connection, Huerta noted, such as the 252 Venezuelans who were sent to a notorious El Salvador prison, before eventually being repatriated to their homeland as part of a political deal. For Huerta, the Republican-led crackdown is "absolutely atrocious... our people have been caught off guard." Huerta believes that the swell of Latino support for Trump that aided his victory in November was driven by religious interests. Church leaders and lobbyists who are influential with Hispanic communities used issues like abortion and LGBTQ+ rights to "intimidate" Hispanic communities, who traditionally favor Democrats, into voting Republican, she said. But Huerta -- whose famous "Si se puede" slogan was mirrored by Barack Obama's "Yes, we can" rallying cry in 2008 -- believes Trump's promise to carry out the largest deportation operation in US history could yet backfire. In various sectors ranging from agriculture to hospitality and services, employers are realizing how much they need hard-working immigrants, she said. 'Fear' The risks have sharply risen for many in her community since Trump came to power, but for Huerta personally, activism has long had perilous consequences. When she was 58, Huerta was arrested and brutally beaten by police at a San Francisco protest. Her commitment to the union movement also meant she was an absent mother -- and even today, she spends more time on her work than with her many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Huerta has often been the only woman in male-dominated spaces, and is renowned by many for her ability to face down corporate power. In February, her foundation helped drive an ongoing boycott against the retail giant Target over its decision to end pro-diversity programs following Trump's election. "Trump instilled fear in all these corporations," she said. Using tactics like boycotts to influence billionaire business owners who can "pull Trump's strings," she said, "we finally are able to move them in the right direction."
BBC News
06-07-2025
- BBC News
Lives Less Ordinary Kidnapped at four: How I found my way home
After being kidnapped, a promise to return to his mother helped Antonio Salazar-Hobson through his darkest hours. Antonio Salazar-Hobson was four years old when he was kidnapped from his Mexican migrant worker family in Arizona by the white couple who lived next door. From Phoenix, he was taken more than 300 miles away to California, where he grew up suffering terrible abuse. Throughout his ordeal, he replayed the memories he had of his family over and again - especially of his beloved mother Petra - and swore to himself that one day he would make it back to her. As a teenager, he sought out other Mexican-American families to hold on to his roots, and threw himself into left-wing activism on behalf of workers like his family back home. There, he met renowned labour union leader Cesar Chavez who encouraged him to study and become a lawyer; it was an encounter which would change the course of his life. After going to college, and finally escaping his abductors, he began to track down the family he'd been stolen from so many years before. This programme contains references to child sexual abuse and suicide. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Zoe Gelber Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else's life and expect the unexpected. Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@ or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 You can read our privacy notice here:
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Summer lunch program offers a free meal for Albuquerque children
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) — The City of Albuquerque is kicking off its summer lunch program. Children ages 1-18 can get a free meal at parks and community centers around the city. Albuquerque Public Schools Story Time in the Park program begins soon No ID is necessary, the only requirements is the child needs to be between 1-18 and must eat the meal on-site. The program kicks off Monday, June 2. For more information on the program, click here. Starting Monday June 2, 2025 • Highland Baptist Church (Juntos), 9212 Trumbull SE• Albuquerque Sign Language Academy 225 Griegos NW• St Mary's Episcopal Church, 1500 Chelwood Park Blvd NE Starting Tuesday June 3, 2025 • First Fruit Christian Academy, 500 Oliver Dr. NW• Christina Duncan Charter, 1900 Atrisco NW• ABQ Childrens Academy, 9924 Menaul Blvd. NE• Legacy Church, 7201 Central NW• Mountain Mohogany Comm, 5014 4th St NW• YMCA St Paul's Church, 9500 Constitution NE Starting Wednesday June 4 2025 – *Story Time In the Park • *4-H Park, Indian School & Prospect NW• *Alamosa Park, Sunset Gardens & Bataan SW• Avalon Park, 90th & Starboard NW• *Aztec Park, Moon & Headingly NE• Bennie Aragon Park, 1215 Cerrilos Rd SW• Burton Park, Carlisle & Kathryn SE• Central & Unser Library, 8081 Central Ave. NW (Tuesdays only)• *Chelwood Park, Nakomis & Fruit NE• Conchas Park, Claremont & Parsifal NE• Desert Springs Park, 7627 Blue Avena Ave SW• *Grisham Park, Veranda & Hoyle NE• *Jade Park, San Francisco & Ray NE Starting Wednesday, June 4 2025 Continued – *Story Time In the Park • Lynnewood Park, Nakomis & Los Arboles NE• Marquez Park (KAFB), Pennsylvania & Gibson SE• Martineztown North Park, Edith & McKnight NE• *Montgomery Park, San Mateo & Ponderosa NE• *Pat Hurley Upper Park, 5035 Bluewater Rd NW• *Phil Chacon Park, 7600 Southern• Quigley Park Claremont, Pl & San Pedro NE• *Sandia Vista Park, Chico & Jane NE• *Santa Fe Village Park, Bogart & Montano NW• Sister Cities Park, McKinney & Harper NE• Sun Plaza Apts., 4400 Montgomery NE• Sun Point Park Apts., 4057 Montgomery NE• Tierra West Mobile Home Park, 224 Atrisco Vista Blvd SW• *Tiguex Park, 19th St. & Mountain NW• Tingley Fields Park, 913 Atlantic SW• *Tower Park, 86th & Tower SW• Unser & Central Library, 8081 Central Ave. NW• Villa Hermosa Apartments, 2600 Americare Ct. NW• *Westgate Community Park, Cartagena & Valley View SW• Wilson Park, San Pedro & Anderson SE Starting June 5 Holy Ghost Catholic School, 6201 Ross SE Starting June 7 First Unitarian Church, 3701 Carlise Blvd NE Starting Monday, June 9 2025 African-American Perf Arts, San Pedro & Copper NE Alamosa CC, 6900 Gonzales Rd. SW Barelas CC, 801 Barelas SW Cesar Chavez CC, 7505 Kathryn SE Dennis Chavez CC, 715 Kathryn SE Griegos Elementary Play +, 4040 San Isidro NW Heights CC, 823 Buena Vista SE Herman Sanchez CC, 1830 Williams SE Hiland Theatre, 4604 Central Ave SE Holiday Park CC, 11710 Comanche NE Jeanne Bellamah CC, 11516 Summer NE Loma Linda CC, 1700 Yale SE Los Duranes CC, 2920 Leopoldo NW Manzano Mesa Youth Program, 501 Elizabeth SE McKinley CC, 3401 Monroe NE Mesa Verde CC, 7900 Marquette NE Native American Comm Academy, 1000 Indian School Rd. NW Painted Sky Play +, 8101 Gavin Rd NW Reynaluz Juarez CC, 1110 Quincy SE Singing Arrow CC, 13200 Wenonah Ave SE Snow Park CC, 9501 Indian School Rd NE Taylor Ranch CC, 4900 Kachina NW Thomas Bell CC, 3001 University SE Wells Park CC, 500 Rosemont Ave NW West Mesa CC, 5500 Glenrio NW Westgate CC, 10001 De Vargas RD SW Starting June 23 Valley High School (APD JR), 1505 Candelaria Rd NW Starting July 14 West Mesa High School (APD JR), 6701 Fortuna NW Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Chicago Tribune
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Today in History: Smoking ban on domestic flights goes into effect
Today is Wednesday, April 23, the 113th day of 2025. There are 252 days left in the year. Today in history: On April 23, 1988, a federal ban on smoking during domestic airline flights of two hours or less (accounting for 80% of all U.S. flights) went into effect. Also on this date: In 1635, the Boston Latin School, the first public school in what would become the United States, was established. In 1898, Spain declared war on the United States, which responded in kind two days later. In 1940, over 200 people trapped inside a dance hall died in the Rhythm Club Fire in Natchez, Mississippi, one of the deadliest nightclub fires in U.S. history. In 1971, hundreds of Vietnam War veterans opposed to the conflict protested by tossing their medals and ribbons over a wire fence constructed in front of the U.S. Capitol. In 1993, labor leader Cesar Chavez died in San Luis, Arizona, at age 66. In 2005, the recently created video-sharing website YouTube uploaded its first clip, 'Me at the Zoo,' which showed YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim standing in front of an elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo. In 2007, Boris Yeltsin, Russia's first popularly elected president, died in Moscow at age 76. In 2018, a man plowed a rental van into crowds of pedestrians in Toronto, killing 10 people and leaving 16 others hurt. (Alek Minassian was later convicted of 10 counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison.) Today's Birthdays: Actor Lee Majors is 86. Actor Blair Brown is 79. Actor Joyce DeWitt is 76. Filmmaker-author Michael Moore is 71. Actor Judy Davis is 70. Actor Valerie Bertinelli is 65. Actor-comedian George Lopez is 64. Actor Melina Kanakaredes is 58. Actor-wrestler John Cena is 48. Retired MLB All-Star Andruw Jones is 48. Comedian-TV host John Oliver is 48. Actor Kal Penn is 48. Actor-model Jaime King is 46. Singer Taio Cruz is 45. Actor Dev Patel is 35. Model Gigi Hadid is 30. Olympic snowboarding gold medalist Chloe Kim is 25. Prince Louis of Wales is 7.
