New immigration policies could help undocumented farmworker youth
By Griselda Casillas, Toxic Free NC 2012 Farm Worker Outreach Intern
Last month President Obama announced new deportation policies stating that undocumented immigrants under age 30, who came to the US before age 16, and who are currently in school or have graduated from high school or earned a GED, are not to be deported. Also, those young undocumented immigrants who qualify can apply for two-year work permits that will allow them to work in the United States legally.
This policy change will affect the lives of many young undocumented farmworkers, who often work long hours in the fields of North Carolina in order to feed the nation.
Agricultural work is classified as one of the three most dangerous occupations in the United States because of the many dangers workers are exposed to that put their lives at risk. Those dangers include constant exposure to pesticides, green tobacco sickness, heat stress, musculoskeletal injuries and many other health problems.
In North Carolina, children are legally permitted to work in the fields at the early age of 12, though recent field investigations have discovered children much younger than 10 filling up buckets of blueberries to help their families make more money in order to put food on their table.
Children are the most vulnerable farm workers because their bodies are still developing. They have a higher chance of dying from a work-related incident in the fields than an adult. The pesticide exposure they receive comes with short-term effects like nausea, vomiting, cramping and itchy/burning eyes, breathing difficulty, as well as long-term effects such as cancer, miscarriage, memory loss and depression.
Teen farm workers talk about their experiences working around pesticides in the fields of North Carolina. Video courtesy of Toxic Free NC.”
A majority of the time children and adults are not informed about the dangers of pesticide exposure, or their rights in the field. They are not often notified whether the fields have been recently sprayed. Farmworkers, especially youth, may not have been told what procedures they should follow to protect themselves, or what to do if they get sick from exposure to pesticides.
On top of that, many undocumented children and teenagers have limited access to medical care. This means that if they are injured or become ill on the job, they’re less likely than other children to receive proper treatment and care.
Due to work-related illness, family stress and sheer exhaustion, farmworker children are also more likely to perform poorly in school and are at greater risk of dropping out of school. Many undocumented farm worker youth lose motivation to complete high school when they learn that it will likely be impossible for them to go on to college.
The Obama administration’s new deportation policy enacted last week will help young undocumented immigrants, including those who work in the field, to find jobs that don’t put their lives at risk. The two-year work permits will allow many farmworker youth to seek jobs that typically require proof of citizenship or residency, for the first time in their lives. Under this policy, undocumented youth will also be able to apply for drivers’ licenses and other types of documentation that are currently unavailable to them.
This policy will help young farmworkers to improve their lives in several concrete ways. They can get out of field work and seek jobs in other occupations that don’t expose them to pesticides, extreme heat, heavy lifting and harmful repetitive motion stress. They can seek higher paying jobs that will allow them to provide meaningful help to their families and save money for college, breaking the cycle of poverty.
With the possibility of legal residency, youth will be encouraged to perform better in school and pursue a college education after high school.
Perhaps most importantly, though, the implementation of this policy will mean that undocumented farmworker youth no longer have to live in fear, and that’s a very welcome change.