SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — Immigration attorneys say California's new pilot program to fund legal services for some farmworkers will help address a historic gap in immigrant workers’ rights.
Governor Gavin Newsom said the $4.5 million pilot program announced Wednesday will fund free immigration legal assistance for farmworkers who are involved in state labor investigations. The program offers case review services, legal advice and representation by an attorney at no cost to farmworkers.
“Farmworkers are the backbone of our economy and we won’t stand by as bad actors use the threat of deportation as a form of exploitation,” Newsom said in a statement Wednesday. “In the absence of Congress modernizing our broken, outdated immigration system, California continues our efforts to support immigrant families."
Newsom said the state estimates about half of all California farmworkers are in the U.S. illegally. They may avoid filing labor claims or providing witness accounts due to fear of retaliation from bad actor employers and deportation or difficulties obtaining other jobs without work authorization.
He said the program is designed to prevent workers from exploitation and help California labor enforcement departments address workers' fears of pursuing their rights despite their immigration status.
“Prosecutorial discretion ensures that farmworkers will be empowered to enforce their labor rights and stand up against the abuse and exploitation they often face,” said Diana Tellefson Torres, CEO of the United Farm Workers Foundation.
“Undocumented farm workers — who form such a large and essential portion of our nation’s workforce — must be able to enforce their rights without the threat of immigration retaliation. Additionally, it is of utmost importance that undocumented workers have access to free and low-cost legal services, so that any farmworker who has experienced workplace violations can come forward knowing they are protected from deportation.”
The new program aligns with a recently announced policy from the Biden administration that streamlines and expedites deferred action for immigrants who are victims of, or witnesses to, labor violations. The California Labor Commissioner’s Office was the first state agency in the nation to successfully request deferred action from the Biden administration for employees under an active investigation.
Bill Hing, law and immigration studies professor and co-director of University of San Francisco’s Immigration Clinic, said Newsom’s program is consistent with the state’s recent actions. California has funded free immigration legal services through qualified nonprofit organizations since 2015, when the Jerry Brown administration and then-Attorney General Kamala Harris supported funding legal services for unaccompanied minors. California later expanded that program to extend legal services funding to other immigrants in need of representation.
“That was a big step for the state to take to provide statewide funding to a group of migrants,” Hing said.
Hing said most legislators support both growers and farmworkers, and thinks the pilot program is likely to be expanded due to the success of Brown and Harris’s program.
Immigrant farmworkers, while essential to the state’s economic success, have historically had few avenues for legal representation.
“This is a shot in the arm of labor as well, because undocumented workers in agriculture are eligible to organize,” Hing said. “But they’re hesitant to be active when it comes to organizing because they’re always looking over their shoulder.”
Lori Nessel, director of the Immigrants’ Rights and International Human Rights Clinic at Seton Hall University School of Law, said she supports the pilot program but thinks it indicates that greater systemwide change is needed.
“By excluding farmworkers from essential labor protections and remedies, and failing to shield them from deportation when they report workplace abuse, the labor and immigration regimes have perpetuated farmworker exploitation,” Nessel said.
“These two initiatives address the reality that undocumented workers will be unable to report labor violations if they fear deportation; and undocumented workers need pro bono lawyers in order to navigate the process. These initiatives at the federal and state level are extremely important, but they do not supplant the need for comprehensive immigration reform.”
California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency and Department of Social Services are partnering to administer the pilot program, starting later in the year. Services will not be limited by an individual’s immigration status, but legal services available will be based on farmworker population estimates and current capacity.
To be eligible, workers' cases must be under review by the Department of Industrial Relations’ Labor Commissioner’s Office, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health or the Agricultural Labor Relations Board.
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