Worker Justice

We advocate for farmworkers and their families.

Immigrant farmworkers are among the most vulnerable and exploited workers in our society. Regardless of immigrant status, they often experience maltreatment, and exploitation in their workplaces and communities. Anti-immigrant sentiment and harassment is commonplace in the communities where we work and, annually, we see multiple divisive anti-immigrant bills proposed and in some cases passed at the state level.

Immigrant families live in fear of job loss, family separation, detention, and deportation, and are in desperate need of information about their rights. They are often victims of exploitation and discrimination by employers, labor contractors, law enforcement, social service agencies, policymakers, landlords, and fellow community members, which results in racial profiling; unwarranted traffic stops, arrests and detentions; unjust landlord-tenant relations; wage theft; inaccessibility or withholding of services; deportation; and separation of families. Also, in recent years many U.S.-based immigrant farmworkers have lost employment opportunities as more and more farms turn to the guest-worker H2A visa program to bring workers, temporarily, from other countries to work in the fields.

The Farmworker Association of Florida’s Defending Immigrants’ Rights Program addresses these problems and works with immigrant farmworkers to build the knowledge and skills needed to better understand their rights, their protections in the workplace and in the community, the policies that impact their lives, and their ability to participate in civic processes focused on bringing about positive change.