Recent legalization work:

            In the summer of 2002, PCUN joined with a the nationwide coalition “A Million Voices for a New Legalization,” to promote the passage of a new legalization law, which would allow undocumented people who have lived and worked in the United States for many years gain legal immigration status and the accompanying benefits.  The last general amnesty occurred in 1986.

            This summer’s campaign sought to gather a million signatures on postcards advocating a new legalization.  In September, the cards were collected and sent to Washington, DC with a group of representatives to present them to Congress.  PCUN organizers and community volunteers worked not only to gather signatures but also to inform others of the legalization campaign at community events, marches, local businesses, and through organizing work.  By the end of the summer, PCUN, working with CAUSA, Oregon’s immigrant rights coalition, collected 33,000 signed cards in support of a new legalization.

            PCUN has also supported other local organizations in support of the Student Adjustment Act and the DREAM Act, which would give legal status to high school and college students, many of whom arrived in the United States when they were very young and have spend their entire lives here.  

Legalization and farmworker organizing:

            The more than one million undocumented immigrants working in agriculture in the United States represent a vital workforce that is relied upon to put food on our tables.  This workforce is also, however, vulnerable due not only to lack of legal protections, but also due to lack of documentation. Farmworkers often arrive in the United States already indebted due to the cost of crossing the border, which has risen to about $1500, a huge sum for most Mexicans.  Once in the workforce, undocumented workers often do not  complain about conditions or wages for fear of deportation.  Growers and contractors take advantage of this by directly or indirectly intimidating workers.  Undocumented workers also pay all state and federal taxes yet are eligible for no benefits or services. 

            This environment of fear makes organizing a difficult task; not only do workers move frequently from harvest to harvest, but their fear of deportation discourages them from standing up for their rights as workers. Guest worker legislation also undermines organizing efforts since workers in this program must remain at the workplace they are sent, and cannot engage in organizational activity or striking without being fired.  Guest workers can also displace local workers and contribute to an excess of workers.

Guest workers and legalization in Oregon agriculture:

Oregon’s first immigrant farmworkers arrived in the years during and immediately following World War II, as part of the Bracero program, which brought workers from Mexico to fill the positions left vacant by US citizens serving in the armed forces, and to better meet the increased agricultural production quotas demanded by the war effort.  This program contracted workers out to specific farms and harvests, and workers were expected to remain complacent regardless of the state of working and living conditions.  Workers who complained or demanded certain rights could be fired and sent back to Mexico.  This program has frequently been referred to as “legalized slavery,” and officially ended in the United States in 1964. 

During the 1950’s, the Immigration and Naturalization Service undertook “Project Wetback,” stepping up border patrols and deportations of people found in the United States without documents.  The number of immigrant workers in Oregon increased throughout the 1970’s, as workers found employment in the nursery and reforestation industry.  This led up to the rash of INS raids and deportations of the early 1980’s, which prompted the formation of PCUN’s precursor, the Willamette Valley Law Project, whose goal was to protect and represent undocumented people in danger of deportation. 

Since its founding, PCUN has been a strong supporter of legalization legislation, which would allow farmworkers who have lived and worked for years in the United States to gain legal immigration status. 

In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act allowed undocumented people who had been living in the United States since 1982 to apply for amnesty. This opportunity was also extended to any agricultural workers who had been employed in agriculture between May 1, 1985 and May 1, 1986.  PCUN’s Service Center worked extensively with farmworkers who were applying for residency through this program, processing 1300 legalization cases between June 1, 1987 and June 1 1988.  PCUN pulled out of this work, however, when growers lured an excess of workers to Oregon with the promise of a letter that would grant them temporary residency.  As a result of this, available work and wages plummeted during the summer of 1988, leaving many farmworkers with little or no employment during the harvest season. 

  PCUN has also been involved in efforts to defeat the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996.  This Act included both guest worker legislation, and increasingly stringent requirements on the legalization of additional family members for legal residents.  1996 also saw the introduction of legislation in Oregon that would have denied public benefits and services, and drivers licenses, to undocumented people.  In response to this, the immigrant rights coalition CAUSA was formed, which worked extensively in opposition to this and other anti-immigrant or guest worker legislation.  

For more information:

Farmworker Justice Fund

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights  

California Rural Legal Assistance



BACK TO TOP