Online Educational Journals

Why did Caesar Chavez, icon of the U.S. Latino civil rights movement, staunchly oppose illegal immigration?

"Deception in the classroom: the real Cesar Chavez." San Diego Business Journal http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5565671/Deception-in-the-classroom-the.html Did you know that Cesar Chavez was not a supporter of illegal immigration? Did you also know that history shows Cesar Chavez, whose name has become synonymous with La Raza and other radical elements of the reconquista movement, was in fact effectively a Minuteman? Our schools teach that Cesar Chavez spent a good portion of his life advocating for the rights of farmworkers throughout California and the United States. But what they fail to mention is that Cesar Chavez was a vocal opponent of illegal immigration. Think about it--he was trying to raise the benefits for farmworkers in the United States. Simultaneously, there was a massive influx of virtual slave labor streaming across the southern border of the United States, thus undermining everything he fought to achieve. When farmworkers would strike as a method for achieving their goals, employers would simply recruit "strikebreakers" from south of the border, illegal immigrants, by flooding the market with cheap labor, would lower the prevailing wage and thereby drain Cesar Chavez of his ability to advocate on behalf of the organized farm labor movement. Evidence of this abounds in the historical record, such as in his testimony before Congress in 1979 when he blamed the federal government for failing to secure the border. Chavez testified that "for over 30 years, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has looked the other way and assisted in the strikebreaking." In fact, 10 years earlier, Cesar Chavez protested illegal immigration at the Mexican border, reportedly accompanied by Sen. Walter Mondale and Ralph Abernathy, head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. It has also been reported that Chavez's brother, Manuel, along with members of the United Farm Workers, patrolled the Arizona-Mexico border in a manner similar to that of our Minutemen of today. He believed that illegal immigration would directly impact the prosperity of U.S. farmworkers. He was right. Yet, his vision of the effects of illegal immigration didn't even scratch the surface of the dramatic social and economic impact it would have on America. The massive influx of illegal immigrants into the United States has cost the American taxpayer billions of dollars in services to them and their children through health care and education. It has also been said that illegal immigrants make up well over 20 percent of those in federal penitentiaries --another major expenditure that we the people can scarcely afford. I challenge our educators to recognize this reality and develop lesson plans that don't sugarcoat history, but rather slay the sacred cows of political correctness by telling the truth about Cesar Chavez and the dangers of unbridled illegal immigration. Let's see them teach that in a classroom! Sen. Bill Morrow represents California's 38th District, which includes much of North County and portions of Orange County.

Public Comments

1. "The Harvest Gypsies", John Steinbeck (On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath)> This book highlights the sames thought as you write about. Factories once paid what 'migrant workers' were paid. they revolted. People screamed how the price of the products would increase. Factory workers won, paid a fair wage. And what happened? Prosperity followed. California has used many different immigrant groups for cheap labor. California has exploited workers for years. Until we stop paying 'migrant; wages, we will always have the problem of illegals coming to the USA. Think about this. We pay for health care, schooling, and even food stamps for migrant workers. The farmers barely make enough. Yet the food giants like ADM and Monsanto who buy that food make billions in profits.
2. Illegal immigration is wrong and he understood it.
3. i would like to know why the illegals think this guy is a god. i guess its just another reason to celebrate and get drunk.
4. He knew an influx of low-skilled workers would lower the wages of legal workers and make it impossible to negotiate for reasonable wages and safe working conditions.