Week 1 Research – Conflicts
What are the different conflicts/perspectives at play in the story?
The Mexican Farmworkers
- Unfair pay
- Long hours
- Poor living conditions
- Isolation
- Every time they leave the farm, they run the risk of being deported
- No access to healthcare
- Theoretically no rights because they can’t complain to authority
The Farm Owners
- Want cheap labor
- Don’t want to deal with finding workers
- Can threaten workers
- Don’t have to treat them like an American
- The Immigration and Reform Act of 1986 outlawed hiring illegal alien workers, although common practice has proven that measure ineffective for two reasons:
- The law requires proof that the employer knowingly hired the illegal worker.
- The prevalence of fake documents makes it difficult to prove the employer knew that the employee’s work documents were not legitimate.
Migrant Justice (Activist Groups)
- Want to help the immigrants
- Have multiple programs in place to fight for their rights
- Milk with Dignity (Ben and Jerry’s)
- Protested resulting in the release of multiple Mexicans
Police
- Understand that we need the immigrants in our state
- Have to do their job (deport illegal aliens)
Featured Image by Migrant Justice
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