America’s most famous champion of immigrant labor, the late Cesar Chavez, is the focus of a new campaign: Fighting illegal immigration.
The labor chief who fought for migrants picking grapes and lettuce in the 1960s and 1970s and against importing illegals to replace them is being elevated as the face of National Border Security Day.
Legislation has been proposed to honor his birthday, March 31.
“Honor Cesar Chavez’s commitment to immigration enforcement by marking his birthday as National Border Control Day,” said the group advocating for the legislation, the Center for Immigration Reform.
According to the legislation proposed by Rep. Louie Gohmert, Texas Republican, Chavez as the head of the United Farm Workers “believed that preventing illegal immigration was an essential prerequisite to improving the circumstances of American farmworkers.”
National Border Control Day is coming up Saturday — don’t forget! https://t.co/0Ej6IS9wV1
— Mark Krikorian (@MarkSKrikorian) March 26, 2018
He once testified in Congress against letting companies use illegal immigrants when his workers went on strike for better wages and conditions. “It is apparent that when the farmworkers strike and their strike is successful, the employers go to Mexico and have unlimited, unrestricted use of illegal alien strikebreakers to break the strike. And, for over 30 years, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has looked the other way and assisted in the strikebreaking,” he said.
The push for a National Border Security Day in his name comes as companies again are pushing for expansion of H2A visas for lower-wage immigrants.
