The Tour of Virginia

I invite you to join me on a scenic tour of Virginia. Imagine the Christmas tree farms in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, then east through the Southside tobacco farms and up the Potomac River to the Northern Neck seafood processing plants. Now we move further up the river to the fast-growing DC suburbs of Northern Virginia, then back down through the apple orchards and poultry processing plants of the Shenandoah Valley. 

The Virginia Justice Center for Farm and Immigrant Workers knows the beauty of the Commonwealth well.  But in beautiful places throughout Virginia, the ugly truth is that many employers abuse and exploit immigrant workers. It is the courageous, hard-working immigrants we have met, the stories we have heard from them, and the sights we have seen along the way that motivate our work. 

The Virginia Justice Center has documented the abuse of immigrant workers in Virginia by winning judgments and settlements for workers totaling more than $1.5 million dollars since 1998.  Here is a small sampling of the cases in which the Virginia Justice Center has recently obtained justice for workers:

• In the fall and winter of 2002, a group of men and women from Mexico (some caring for infants) lived in wretched temporary housing in Wythe County while working 65 hours per week.  These workers made wreaths and pine garlands, and harvested Christmas trees their families could not afford, so the rest of us could decorate our homes for the holidays.  When one of the workers confronted a supervisor about inaccuracies in his pay records, the supervisor physically threatened him.  This sad story comes only a couple years following the discovery of horrendous worker housing for Christmas tree workers in the town of Independence, where in the middle of winter Mexican migrant workers were charged outrageous rent for filthy, overcrowded rooms with no heat or hot water.

§       In July of 2003, Armando, Luis, Roberto and Gustavo (not their real names) were finishing work on a tobacco farm in North Carolina when a farm labor contractor approached them and told them about a job picking tomatoes on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.  He told them that they would be provided with good housing and that there would be no charge for their transportation to the job if they would work on his picking crew.  When the four men arrived in Virginia, they were placed with 26 other workers in a badly overcrowded house with just three small bedrooms and one bathroom.  Nevertheless, their employer deducted excessive housing charges from their first paycheck.  The men kept on working, putting in 72 hours of hard physical labor during the second week.  When they received their second paychecks – for the 72 hours of work – they were shocked see that the checks were for only $3.  Hundreds of dollars had been deducted for the transportation from North Carolina.

§       In Suffolk, Newport News, Charlottesville, and all across Northern Virginia, construction contractors routinely cheat workers out of thousands of dollars by failing to pay overtime, unlawfully claiming the workers are independent contractors instead of employees, and paying workers with checks that draw on closed bank accounts.  One employer, knowing the day laborer he hired only spoke Spanish, actually wrote “VOID” on the worker’s paycheck before giving it to him.  The worker was unable to cash the check.  Another employer hired three workers here in Virginia and promised them a week of work somewhere towards Chicago.  After seven hours in the car and two days of hard physical labor—he abandoned them – without a ride home, and without pay.

Low-wage immigrant workers form the solid backbone of Virginia’s economy.  We depend on them to perform the most difficult and dangerous jobs in the Commonwealth.  Yet Virginia offers them virtually no meaningful protection from exploitation.  When employers can cheaply get away with exploiting immigrant workers, there is no reason for them to hire U.S.-born workers.  This is not a struggle between immigrant workers and U.S.-born workers.  This is a struggle for jobs and basic justice for ALL workers.

Virginians have a responsibility to work for justice for all in the Commonwealth.  Urge your representatives in Congress to support immigration reform (such as the AgJOBS bill, or the DREAM Act) that recognizes the contributions of Virginia’s hardworking immigrants, and gives the children of immigrants hope.

On the state level, urge your representatives in the General Assembly to recognize that Virginia’s well-being depends on immigrant workers being protected from exploitation, and given the opportunity to fulfill their potential.  Virginia has set off down a dangerous path of treating hardworking immigrants as criminals and potential terrorists.  Many immigrants who have lived in Virginia for years are suddenly not able to obtain or renew their drivers’ licenses.  Without a license, many of Virginia’s immigrants are not able to get to work, or take their children to school.  Because of another Virginia law, these same children are being denied in-state tuition in Virginia’s colleges and universities, and thus effectively denied a chance to continue their education beyond high school.  Rather than spend millions of dollars cracking down on kids who join gangs, we should invest Virginia’s money in the expansion of educational opportunities for these kids so they don’t have time to even think about joining gangs because they’re planning to go to college.

Now, Virginia is debating the role of state and local police with regards to the enforcement of civil violations of federal immigration law.  The first, very narrow law that Virginia has passed gives police limited enforcement powers with regard to a very small number of immigrants.  This law, although very limited, has sent tremendous fear throughout the hardworking immigrant communities of Virginia.  This law--meant to make Virginia safer--has done exactly the opposite.  Successful community policing efforts must be based on relationships of trust between police and the immigrant communities of Virginia.  This bill has destroyed that trust, and replaced it with fear.  The result is an entire segment of Virginia’s population who are afraid of the police, who are afraid to report crime, afraid to seek help, and afraid to cooperate in police investigations.

Tell your local delegate or state senator that you believe in the value of every human being, and that your vision for Virginia recognizes the hard work and value of everyone living in Virginia.  Virginia should license all of its drivers, educate all of its children, and support successful community policing efforts that are based on trust between Virginia’s immigrants and law enforcement.  Together we can ensure that every worker in Virginia is able to live and work in this beautiful state with the dignity and respect he or she has earned.