We live in scary times, since our new President, Donald Trump, has taken office, raids by ICE have been taken out in many parts of California, against farm workers. Many have been deported and now fruit and vegetables are left unpicked and rotting on the vines.
The raids are breaking up families, breaking up farmers’ business operations and will eventually break up our economy. The poor will pay the price, as price for vegetables and fruits go up because of lack of workers. Can you imagine paying $10 for a tomato? Maybe an overstatement now, but maybe a truth in the future.
Right now, Kern County, one of the top 5 productive agricultural counties, has been a target of these raids. Border Patrol have traveled 300+ miles from the boarder to profile and deport these hardworking people.
I know, firsthand, being a child from migrant farm workers, how hard my family worked, in extremely hot to freezing temperatures, to pick the crops before they go bad. These workers work long hours, with small breaks to eat, sometimes no shade or water. Having to use out houses, no running water toilets, sharing shower rooms with strangers. I feel for these people. Life must be pretty harsh in the countries they fled, to work under these conditions for hardly any pay.
We must have compassion and find a solution to bring in workers legally to work and pick the crops, for families to live with some sort of dignity in our Great Country, US of A. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” An 1883 poem etched in bronze on the Statue of Liberty, how ironic now…
