A prominent labor activist acknowledged in a recent interview that illegal immigrants are impacting wage levels quite noticeably.
Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins mentioned earlier in July that the Trump administration aimed to prioritize American workers, asserting that “there are no pardons” for undocumented farm workers. Meanwhile, Republican Rep. Maria Salazar from Florida and others have been advocating for an amnesty bill later in July. In response, White House spokesperson Caroline Lewitt indicated that President Donald Trump would oppose it if necessary.
During an interview regarding Trump’s immigration policies, Politico’s Samuel Benson spoke with Dolores Huerta, a co-founder of the National Association of Farm Workers alongside Cesar Chavez. They discussed the possibility of only American citizens working in agriculture under certain conditions.
Huerta pointed to the situation in Central California prisons, where the state’s minimum wage stands at $50 per hour. She argued that young individuals might prefer working on farms for that wage instead of ending up behind bars.
“We have very high unemployment in the central valley. There’s a prison industrial complex that many youths fall into. These young people wouldn’t need to go to prison if they received adequate pay. I’m convinced a lot of the homeless people we see could find work if the wage was $50 an hour,” she stated.
Benson asked, “So is that just a matter of improving wages?”
Huerta responded, “Well, it’s also about training. Working on a farm requires significant effort, so you’ve got to be healthy enough for that.”
Her response seems to challenge the left’s justification for the deportation of migrant workers, which has often relied on the notion that these roles are unappealing to citizens.
Interestingly, many Americans may avoid farm jobs not out of laziness—which often isn’t the case—but because of incredibly low wages for such arduous work. The irony lies in the fact that U.S. wages are considerably higher than what many migrant workers could earn in their home countries.
Unlike certain Democrats and activists, Huerta seems to grasp this reality quite well. She doesn’t shy away from discussing it, regardless of her intentions.
