{"id":66453,"date":"2024-08-05T11:09:06","date_gmt":"2024-08-05T18:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=66453"},"modified":"2024-08-05T11:09:06","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T18:09:06","slug":"with-escalating-anti-immigrant-rhetoric-california-farmworkers-fear-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=66453","title":{"rendered":"With Escalating Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric, California Farmworkers Fear the Future"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Selen Ozturk<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As the \u201924 elections get into full swing, anti-immigrant rhetoric is growing increasingly ugly, with real world consequences for migrant communities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Farmworkers in Tulelake, in rural Northern CA, say anti-immigrant political rhetoric is sewing fear and anger within the community. (Credit: Manuel Ortiz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As this year\u2019s polarized election cycle continues, anti-immigrant rhetoric grows ever uglier, with life-altering consequences for farmworkers in California.<\/p>\n

Between half and one-third of all farmworkers in the U.S. live in California alone. That\u2019s between 500,000 and 800,000 farmworkers. These immigrants working to put food on the nation\u2019s table face a paradox of great demand for cheap labor on the one hand, and politically fueled hate speech rejecting immigrants on the other.<\/p>\n

\u201cNinety nine percent of the communities we\u2019ve reached out to are farmworkers and all have expressed anxiety and fear. All feel their future is deeply impacted by this,\u201d said Gustavo Gasca Gomez, immigration outreach specialist and Stop the Hate coordinator at the Fresno-based Education and Leadership Foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re most concerned about public charge, about being deported if they access benefits like health care that they or their children \u2014 who are often U.S. citizens \u2014 qualify for,\u201d he explained at a Friday, August 2 Ethnic Media Services briefing about the impact of hate speech on migrant farmworkers.<\/p>\n

Nationwide<\/a>, 70% of farmworkers are foreign-born with 78% identifying as Hispanic. In\u00a0California<\/a>, 75% of farmworkers are undocumented, with 96% identifying as Hispanic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m undocumented with a sliver of privilege \u2026 I\u2019m still in a precarious position, but millions of people would love to be in my shoes,\u201d Gomez continued. \u201cI can work, and I have social security. But I can\u2019t 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 \u2026 The work is difficult. It\u2019s hot, dirty and tedious. It makes your mind numb in many ways. But it\u2019s a job that the entire country depends on.\u201d<\/p>\n

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