DELANO, CA – On February 1, United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero and U.S. Senator Adam Schiff met in Delano with the families of UFW members who were impacted by the Border Patrol raid in Kern County from January 7 to January 10. Other UFW members, as well as additional Kern County residents who had loved ones deported by Border Patrol, were also present.
On the afternoon of January 7th, two UFW members were detained by Border Patrol while making their way back home from work. Both members were placed under intense pressure to sign a voluntary departure order. Within 36 hours of their detention, both men found themselves in Mexicali, Mexico, blocked by the U.S.-Mexico border from their homes, jobs, and families. Both had been in the United States and worked in agriculture for the past 15 years. Both leave behind a wife and several U.S. citizen children under 10. Their wives and children were present for the meeting with UFW President Romero and Senator Schiff.
“Our first and most sacred duty is loyalty to our members, and to all the farm workers of America, regardless of their immigration status,” said UFW President Teresa Romero. “We are outraged, heartbroken and disgusted by the cruel and arbitrary treatment inflicted on two UFW members by the Border Patrol. They are being criminalized solely for coming to America, as so many millions have, in search of a better life and for working hard every day to put food on Americans’ tables. The UFW is providing every possible support to our members’ separated families during this difficult time.
“Across Kern County and America, destructive and random immigration raids targeting productive and deeply rooted members of our communities serve only to spread fear, destroy trust, and terrorize decent hardworking people,” continued UFW President Teresa Romero. “Increased fear among immigrant workers also makes them less likely to speak out against wage theft, dangerous working conditions, and other labor abuse — pushing wages and workplace standards down for all workers, U.S. citizens included. Yet despite the politically-driven increase in anxiety and fear, immigrant farm workers are continuing to report to work every day in order to feed America and their own families. They deserve a pathway to citizenship in the country that relies on their labor.”
“Farmworkers are the backbone of American agriculture and some of the hardest working people I’ve ever met. Today, I met with families who were impacted by the Kern County immigration raids at the start of the year — families broken up by the practice of deporting people who are doing such vital work to feed us,” said Senator Schiff. “With a significant number of California’s farm workforce being undocumented, we must find a pathway to citizenship for them or face much higher food prices. I’m committed to protecting farmworkers and working towards much needed immigration reform to support the hardworking families, including American citizens, who are caught up in these raids.”
“I feel sad and scared,” said an anonymous farm worker and mother whose husband was deported by Border Patrol. “I worry about ICE or Border Patrol coming to my home. They already took my husband away. What will happen to my children? I am afraid to go out of my home or to the store, and I don’t feel safe anymore. I don’t have enough income to make rent; I don’t have enough to buy diapers for my daughter. I would like for us to be left alone. We are workers, not criminals. When we go to work, we feel scared. We are worried that ICE or Border Patrol will be waiting for us at the edge of the fields. We don’t want to be treated like criminals.”
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