Thousands Turnout to Support Farmworkers; Challenge Trump's Immigration Policies
Some 5,000 people marched in Delano on March 31 not only to commemorate the birth and legacy of Cesar Chavez, the renowned civil and labor movement activist, but to draw attention to President Donald Trump's continuing policy attacks on immigrants.
By The Guardsman Staff
Some 5,000 people marched in Delano on March 31 not only to commemorate the birth and legacy of Cesar Chavez, the renowned civil and labor movement activist, but to draw attention to President Donald Trump's continuing policy attacks on immigrants.
Farmworkers in California, who grow one-third of the country’s vegetables and three-fourths of its fruits and nuts, have reported increasing fear and anxiety over a series of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests and deportations in the Central Valley, NBC News reported.
NBC News also stated that around half of California’s farmworkers are undocumented, according to a study by the University of California, Merced, and according to the U.S. Agriculture Department, about 42% nationwide lack legal immigration status.
The statewide march, themed "Con Estas Manos/With these Hands," reminded people about the workers who grow and pick their food. It gathered in Delano, where the UFW was founded, and then marched to the Forty Acres site, where Chavez held his first public fast in 1968.
The march also commemorated the historic Delano grape strike that launched Chávez’s 280-mile march to Sacramento with Filipino American and Mexican American farmworkers.
The marchers were primarily farm workers but included union representatives and United Farm Workers supporters. The California Federation of Labor Unions and SEIU California were among the unions in attendance.
