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Immigrant workers are facing constant hate speech in the context of the upcoming US elections. This speech has generated racial and ethnic tensions, spreading fear, pain and anger in communities, even among responsible workers who are part of the American economy.
The United States is made up of large migrant communities, with between half and a third of all US farmworkers living in California alone, and between 500,000 and 800,000 farmworkers facing hate speech, from former President Donald Trump to other candidates who call immigrants criminals, mentally ill, and “trash.”
In California, 751% of farmworkers are undocumented and 961% identify as Hispanic.
According to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a total of 2,542,074 migrant encounters were recorded on the southwestern border of the United States in 2023, as the majority of migrants entering Mexico do so with the intention of reaching the United States border.
For years there has been a double discourse in the history of migration, on the one hand, they are invited to work in the country, but on the other, hate speech is created against them, as mentioned by Manuel Ortiz Escámez, sociologist, audiovisual journalist and co-founder of Península 360 Press, during an informative session held by Ethnic Media Services.
The Irish were the first migrant group to have a great influence on the United States in the 19th century. At that time, there was a lot of propaganda inviting them to work, but at the same time, they were not widely accepted.
The Chinese must also be considered part of the immigrant history in the United States. The Chinese came to work in the gold mines and built the most important railroads in the country, but then they wanted to be expelled.
She also commented that the main reason why people support Donald Trump is based on two things, the first is because of his anti-immigrant rhetoric and second, the sexist or macho rhetoric, Ortiz says that if Trump were to start an administration, a fascist period would begin, in which it is okay to be racist.
“A second Trump administration could lead us to a fascist period, where the first to suffer are migrants, but they will not be the only ones affected; over time, the enemies will be those in power and anyone who questions their power.”
It is dangerous to have a person in power who generates hate speech among communities, but not only for migrants, but also for businessmen, media outlets, public figures, academics and anyone who seems to contradict their speech and ideas.
Manuel Ortiz has traveled to meet the farm workers of California. During his last trip to Tulelake, he interviewed Juanita, a farm worker who has felt attacked and discriminated against by Donald Trump's racist comments. She says that she does honest work to have better opportunities in life. She is not in the United States to hurt or cause harm as Trump says.
Negative comments continue to spread and people no longer feel safe, "“People are very afraid to speak out. I do interviews with people who then call and say, ‘Please don’t publish anything, because I’m afraid of what might happen,’” Escámez said.
Gustavo Gasca Gómez, coordinator of the Stop the Hate project and Immigration specialist at the Foundation for Education and Leadership, shared his experiences. He was a farm worker for a time and accepts that it is a very hard and difficult job that not everyone can handle. “It makes your mind feel numb in many ways.”
In their daily work within the organization, people come from many places and are looking for support, understanding and a safe space. The organization provides that safe space for those who have been victims of discrimination or acts of hate.
Gasca says that people in the organization say they are afraid to speak or express themselves, and that most of the members are agricultural workers, communities that work to put fruits and vegetables on the table, people who drive the country's economy.
“We are not here to cause harm, and I know this because when my parents brought me here 31 years ago, they had good intentions,” he concluded.
Arcenio López, executive director of the Mixtec Indigenous Community organization in Ventura, California, said that its members are Mixtec people but also indigenous people from diverse cultures, and they seek to protect these communities and take care of their culture.
Indigenous communities have suffered discrimination for years, so they have always struggled to be accepted but also recognized. It seems that borders have been created with the purpose of dividing, controlling and taking away the people's resources, beliefs, culture, vision and dreams, as mentioned by Arcenio López.
He also commented that it is important for each person to know their own history and feel proud of it, because if they do not know it, then people believe that they should act like Americans, speak like Americans and be like Americans, which is why it is so important to recognize and learn about one's own roots.
“Appreciating the culture of origin is the only way to give it the value it deserves, because indigenous people have been discriminated against for centuries for their dialect, their traditions, their culture.”
In addition to the political discourse, López mentioned that in schools indigenous youth are called “Oaxacans” and suffer constant bullying by their peers that is fueled by other people or public figures such as Trump. The number of acts of hate due to racism has increased and we see it in the numbers.
As part of these migrant and indigenous communities, what must be done is to break the negative narrative that has been generated, López concluded.
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