America’s Aging Farmworkers Don’t Have a Safety Net

At least 40 percent of crop workers in the United States do not have legal immigration status. Americans typically aren’t willing to do backbreaking work in the fields, farmers say.

But many of the undocumented farmworkers that power the nation’s agriculture industry cannot stop working, even as they approach their 70s, my colleague Miriam Jordan recently reported.

“Congress’s failure to come to a consensus over how to fix our broken immigration system has left farmworkers, who earn low wages and are aging, in an especially precarious situation,” Miriam said. “Many told me they expected to work until they die, because they have no safety net.”

You can read Miriam’s full article on the plight of America’s aging farmworkers here.

Miriam, who covers immigration, began looking into aging farmworkers after noticing that many people who toil in the fields are in their 60s or older. She learned that the average age of foreign-born field workers in the United States is now 41, a figure that has risen in recent years.

Her reporting revealed that these older farmworkers are largely Mexican immigrants who used to engage in circular migration — crossing the border to work the harvest, then returning to their home country. The following season, they’d do that again.

But as successive federal administrations, starting with President Bill Clinton, began erecting barriers along the border, coming and going became more expensive and more dangerous. It required paying a smuggler or trying to sneak across the line alone, traveling on foot through remote deserts and mountains. Many farmworkers gave up the back-and-forth and settled in the United States. They sent money to families in the old country, or they started families here.

But their lack of legal status means that many have no plans for retirement and no idea how they would live if they were to stop working. They’re ineligible for Social Security benefits, Medicare and other forms of retirement relief.

Miriam interviewed farmworkers in California, Oregon, Georgia and Florida, and in nearly every case, she said, they file tax returns and pay income taxes.

“Many of these undocumented workers have paid into Social Security for their entire working lives, and they will never receive retirement benefits,” she told me. “These immigrants’ contributions flow into the system, helping to keep Social Security solvent and contributing to the welfare of millions of Americans.”

A California law allows undocumented farmworkers to get health care through Medi-Cal, but that isn’t the case in most other states. Many farmworkers worry about their ability to afford health care as they age, and decades of exposure to pesticides, extreme heat and grueling physical labor take their toll.

“I feel tired,” one worker, Esperanza Sanchez, told Miriam. Sanchez, who at 72 is the oldest worker on her crew in the Coachella Valley, spends eight hours a day, six days a week, crouching to the ground to pick leafy greens. “I feel like stopping, but how can I?”

Where we’re traveling

Today’s tip comes from Carol Ann Meme, who lives in Fresno:

“This year we fortunate folks who live in Fresno were able to start off our holiday celebrations with a walk down Christmas Tree Lane. The lane, which celebrates 100 years this year, was started by one family who had lost a young child to illness. They decorated the tree in their front yard to celebrate their child. Others joined in and now this street that is beautiful on a normal day (large gorgeous trees, lovely homes and friendly folks walking all year long) attracts thousands of people who can walk or drive down Van Ness Boulevard from Dec. 2 to Dec. 25. This year I went with my Frenchie (in a stroller so he would not get trampled or tired), my son, daughter-in-law, granddaughter, daughter-in-law’s parents, and my boyfriend. It was WONDERFUL!!!”

Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to [email protected]. We’ll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter.

Tell us

As 2023 comes to a close, tell us what the best part of your year was. Did you have a big birthday, start a new job or adopt a pet? Email us at [email protected]. Please include your name and the city in which you live.

And before you go, some good news

Peter Park, a resident of Tulare County, became the youngest person in California’s history to pass the state bar exam, at the age of 17, Fox26 News reports.

Park completed the legal exam this summer, but his swift academic journey began well before that. At 13, at the suggestion of his father, Park began studying for a series of standardized college-level exams that would enable him to apply to law school without an undergraduate degree, The Washington Post reported.

By high school, Park was attending classes with his peers during the day and enrolled in a four-year online law school program at night. He graduated high school two years later and received his law degree earlier this year.

Park, now 18, was sworn in as a prosecutor in the Tulare County District Attorney’s office during a ceremony last week, making him among the youngest practicing lawyers in the nation.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Soumya

P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword.

Maia Coleman and Halina Bennet contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at [email protected].

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