NEW YORK -- Undocumented New York farm workers may be risking their lives and livelihoods during the COVID pandemic, but they get few federal or state protections.

On April 8, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala became the first New York farm worker known to die from COVID-19. Emma Kreyche, director of advocacy, outreach and education for the Worker Justice Center of New York, said that although farm laborers are recognized as essential workers, because they are undocumented they have little job security, often live in group settings in rural areas with limited access to health care -- and when they do get sick, they are fearful of seeking medical care.

"The COVID pandemic is really underscoring and highlighting the various systems failures that have played upon this community for many, many years," she said.

While the agricultural industry is getting billions of dollars in federal grants and loans under the stimulus bills, she said, no rules have been created to protect the health of farm workers.

In January, New York's Farm Laborers' Fair Labor Practices Act went into effect, extending some basic labor rights to farm workers in the state. However, Kreyche noted, the law contains few, if any, protections for farm workers' health or safety.

"We still don't have any clear directives from the state about how employers should be handling issues around isolating workers, ensuring there is a setup for quarantine to be maintained," she said.

Prior to the COVID pandemic, she said, farm work already was among the most hazardous occupations.

Efforts are under way to include undocumented workers in the next federal stimulus package. Kreyche said she believes there's little hope that will happen, but added that the state can take steps to help ensure that vulnerable farm workers receive some of the protections given to others, "having enforceable health and safety regulations pertaining to agricultural operations and farm labor camps where workers are housed."

She said it's also imperative that state lawmakers create a source of support for those who cannot apply for or qualify for unemployment insurance.

More information is online at wjcny.org.


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Community members in northwest Washington are gathering support for an immigrant resource center.

In September, Democrats in Whatcom County unanimously passed a resolution backing the establishment of an immigrant resource center in Bellingham. The campaign is coming in the lead-up to Bellingham Mayor Seth Fleetwood's budget unveiling on Oct. 24.

Australia Tobon, a member of the Immigrant Advisory Board in Bellingham, said a physical space for people to gather is important for the community's large immigrant population.

"Our board has done research with community, with community input, regarding this idea that immigrants contribute in many different ways," Tobon explained. "Not just financial, but also culturally, and also disproportionately impacted by a lot of the stressors going on in our communities with the immigration system."

One in 10 residents of Whatcom County was born outside the U.S., which is about 24,000 people, but only about half are naturalized citizens, according to the Immigrant Resource Center proposal to the City of Bellingham.

The mayor of Bellingham did not respond by deadline on whether the immigrant resource center would be included in the city's budget.

Homero Jose, who lives in Ferndale, a small town north of Bellingham, said some people who come to the community do not speak English as a first language and the communication barrier can build a wall around people, but a resource center could provide assistance.

"To understand the process to get involved in the community, it gets more difficult," Jose pointed out. "Like simply get a driver's license, they don't know where to get it. They don't know someone that will translate for them unless they have a family or good friend that will go with them. Just basic needs that can make a big difference."

Tobon added the resource center is not just about providing services, but also helping people participate in civic life. She contended it is needed to build trust with immigrant communities.

"We do have a community that is fearful of speaking up and speaking out," Tobon asserted. "We've heard this through countless interviews and testimony and even board members who are now on the immigration advisory board, and we don't want to dismiss that."

Community members have shown support for a resource center in other ways, including folding 10,000 origami butterflies and displaying them around the city. The campaign was called "migration makes us stronger" and used butterflies to signify migration is natural.

A new internship program is looking to investigate health disparities among Massachusetts' immigrant population.

The Immigrant Scholar Internship Program at the Leah Zallman Center for Immigrant Health Research is designed to have scholars examine the health of immigrants.

According to a 2021 report, residents in the city of Chelsea, 45% of whom are foreign born, said fear of immigration repercussions prevented them from seeking critical health care.

Jessica Santos, director of the Zallman Center, said in developing the program, she found pushback in wanting to pay the interns a decent wage, with many believing the experience alone would be more valuable.

"Paying interns gives folks who are in underrepresented communities and less elite spaces the ability to actually do an internship," Santos explained. "When I was a professor, I don't know how many of my students would come to me and say I literally cannot afford to do an internship this summer; I just need to work."

One thing she wants to change for the future of the program is to get students from different schools across the state. Rather than focusing on more elite schools, she wants to cast a wide net across schools for all immigrant scholars interested in being a part of the program.

Danielle Chun, strategy and partnership manager at the Zallman Center, said some of the training the interns go through revolves around research methods and means of evaluation. There are specific overviews and methodology training for what an intern might be working on.

She directly supervises the interns and has found while she has helped shape them, they have helped shape the program. One of her favorite moments is watching each cohort of interns take the reins on a project.

"I really love seeing how, even in such a short time, how they really flourish," Chun recounted. "And how they really take ownership of the projects they're working on. In the beginning there's a lot of checking in with me to make sure that what they're doing is right, and as they grow more comfortable with us, and as we delegate more to them and provide leadership opportunities for them to take."

Chun noted her personal goal for the interns is for them to leave the program with something tangible such as a report or presentation, documenting the research project. Although interns enter the program from different levels of academia and different fields of study, she hopes they learn about the cross-section of their fields of study and immigrant health.

People in northwest Washington are holding a vigil at Bellingham City Hall for an immigrant farmworker who died five years ago, and calling for a resource center to help other residents.

Honesto Silva Ibarra died in 2017 while working in triple-digit heat. A state investigation of Ibarra's death found the farm where he worked violated requirements for regular breaks.

Tara Villalba, a member of the Immigration Advisory Board, which is asking the city to fund an Immigrant Resource Center, lives in the community and said it is important to have a place where people can use their first language and also build up community in their new homes.

"Access to resources is so full of barriers, especially for new immigrants, when English is not your first language, when you don't know where you're going to need to go to get a driver's license, how are you going to register to vote," Villalba outlined. "People who have lived here a long time, that's knowledge they take for granted."

One in 10 residents of Whatcom County was born outside the U.S., or about 24,000 people, but only about half are naturalized citizens, according to the Immigrant Resource Center proposal to the City of Bellingham.

Lelo Juarez, a member of the Immigration Advisory Board and a farmworker, sees Ibarra as a victim of climate change, which disproportionately affects farm laborers who work outdoors. He believes a resource center could be a place where people come with concerns about their working conditions.

"If a company's not following the rules to keep our workers safe, they can come in and tell us, and we can go and see what we can do," Juarez explained. "We really need this."

On June 1, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries put temporary rules in place, providing increased protections for farmworkers when temperatures are at or above 89 degrees.

To support the campaign for a resource center, people in Whatcom County are folding 10,000 origami butterflies. The campaign is called "migration makes us stronger," and Villalba said butterflies signify migration is natural.

This weekend is also the 77th Hiroshima bombing anniversary. Villalba pointed out the idea to fold butterflies came from descendants of Japanese Americans interned during World War II, who, in recent years, have folded cranes for immigrant families separated and detained at the southern border.

"They said that as a Japanese American community, they cannot allow for this to happen again," Villalba recounted. "And I thought, as an immigrant, that was super powerful."