As average temperatures rise and heat waves and wildfires get more frequent and severe, farmworkers will be at an ever-heightened risk of heat- and smoke-related illnesses. Dangerous Work with Inadequate ProtectionsĮven without climate change, agriculture is already one of the most hazardous industries in America. In California, 12 percent of more than 900 farmworkers surveyed earlier this summer were afraid to seek medical care because of distrust of government agencies and the healthcare system.
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Although the Public Charge Rule has been paused during the pandemic, Latinos without full documentation may still be concerned about the federal government’s push to deny residency or citizenship to immigrants who lawfully use public benefits such as Medicaid. Immigrant workers, always vulnerable, have been marginalized even further in recent years by abusive political rhetoric and policy changes-with dire consequences for their health, safety, and well-being.įor example, researchers at Harvard University and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center suspect that the 2020 Public Charge rule may be partly to blame for disproportionately high COVID-19 rates among foreign-born Latinos. Although estimates vary, more than half of those workers are thought to be undocumented, and lack adequate access to health care.
Roughly 90 percent of California crop workers were born outside the United States, mostly in Mexico and Central America. Let’s take a look at some of the ways we got here. This dangerous situation for California farmworkers and their communities is a perfect example of how the climate crisis magnifies and upholds existing vulnerabilities associated with racism, extreme income inequality, and other structural disparities. We work out of necessity.” If the air quality index surpasses 150, employers must provide respiratory protection equipment such as N95masks or similar. He shares “There is nothing heroic about what we do. And meanwhile, for the past six months, employers and governments have been sacrificing California’s predominantly Latino and Indigenous immigrant farmworkers to the COVID-19 pandemic, even as they label those same workers “essential.” California counties such as Imperial, Kings, and Tulare-centers of industrial agriculture-now report the highest per capita COVID case rates in the state.Įrick shared this photo arriving to work in King City CA.
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