"But most, like Jose, were born in the U.S. and work alongside their immigrant parents — many of whom are Mixtecos, Indigenous people who emigrated primarily from the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Michoacán and Guerrero.
These young laborers and their families are caught in the crosshairs of the Trump administration’s recent immigration raids on worksites. Many of the parents are undocumented and work in agriculture. This creates additional stress, young workers say, because they worry that their families could be broken apart if immigration authorities descend on the fields."
~ Robert J. Lopez
"Raquel, seen at 18, picks strawberries in the Salinas Valley. She started working in the fields when she was 11 years old to help her immigrant parents. She graduated from high school with a 4.0 grade point average and attends college. She dreams of becoming a nurse and using her Spanish and Mixteco language skills to help her community. She described entering a field where a tractor had sprayed chemicals that made her feel dizzy. She also says she has worked piece-rate jobs that paid less than minimum wage and labored in fields where employers failed to provide shade on hot days."
"California leaders take pride in the state’s stringent workplace safety laws that generally exceed federal regulations and include labor codes to protect underage workers, landmark outdoor heat safety standards and pesticide safety regulations.
Yet vast areas of California’s agricultural heartlands have gone years without worksite inspections by the front-line state agency charged with protecting underage workers, according to the records. Over an eight-year period, state officials issued just 27 citations for child labor violations, even though thousands of agricultural businesses operate in California. More than 90% of the fines were never collected."
~ Robert J. Lopez
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