FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Media Contacts
Leydy Rangel | lrangel@ufwfoundation.org

***MEDIA ADVISORY***

PRESS CALL: Thursday, July 8th 1pm ET/10am PT

Farm Workers and Advocates: Heat Wave Affecting Ag Workers Adds Urgency to Citizenship Push

Dial-In: 785-424-1667; Password: “FARM WORKERS”

Washington, D.C. – Amidst record-breaking temperatures, the importance of access to fresh water, shade, training and breaks become a matter of life and death. Unfortunately, no federal heat standards exist, leaving thousands of farm workers vulnerable to heat illness and death. Farm workers in the U.S. have historically been excluded from many of the rights and benefits that protect workers such as overtime pay and minimum wage, partly because many are immigrants and do not have legal status. In this briefing, medical professionals, farm workers and advocates will discuss how lack of legal status is at the heart of what makes workers so vulnerable to extremely hazardous working conditions, abuse and retaliation. They will also discuss the vital rights and protections a path to citizenship would offer them. 

WHAT: Farm workers and advocates discuss how a path to citizenship helps protect workers who put food on all of our tables, including during this heat wave.

WHO: Immigration advocates, medical professionals, farm workers, including:

• Teresa Romero, President, United Farm Workers
• Bruce Goldstein, President, Farmworker Justice
• Leydy Rangel, Moderator and Comms Manager for UFW Foundation
• Roxana Chicas, PhD, Registered Nurse and Assistant Professor at Emory University School of Nursing
• Reyna Lopez, Executive Director of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN)
• Leticia, Washington state farm worker laboring through record-breaking temperatures and member of UFW Foundation

WHEN: Thursday, July 8 @ 1pm ET / 10 am PT

WHERE: Via Conference Line Dial-In: 785-424-1667; Password: “FARM WORKERS”

 

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We Are Home​ is a nationwide campaign fighting to ensure that “we the people” includes all of us​. Our mission is to transform America’s inhumane immigration system. We must undo the damage of the last four years and build a new immigration system that is fair, humane, functional, and centered in racial justice, and respects all people, regardless of race, religion, or birthplace. And we must immediately enact legislation that creates a roadmap to citizenship for every immigrant who calls this country home.. We Are Home is co-chaired by Community Change/Community Change Action; National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA)/Care in Action; Service Employees International Union (SEIU); United Farm Workers (UFW), and United We Dream.