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On Cesar Chavez's 90th Birthday, A Call To Recognize Immigrants And Farm Laborers

Oregon Dept. of Agriculture
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Oregon Governor Kate Brown has officially declared today “Cesar Chavez Day”.  Immigrant rights and farm worker groups are holding marches through the weekend to honor the famed Latino activist, and to protest President Trump’s immigration policies.  KLCC’s Brian Bull reports.  

Cesar Chavez’s birthday on March 31st is the galvanizing date for groups like the United Farm Workers of America.  They’ve announced marches in Oregon, Texas, California, and Washington all weekend to raise awareness of immigrant workers and their role in agriculture. 

Credit U.S. National Archives / Flickr.com
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Cesar Chavez, 1972.

Ramon Ramirez is with PCUN, an immigrant rights group based in Woodburn.  He says on what would be Chavez’s 90th birthday, undocumented immigrants are being unfairly targeted for deportation by the White House.

“Oregon is truly a agriculture-based economy," Ramirez tells KLCC.  "This is going to have a tremendous effect on our ability to proper economically in our state when you take away a major portion of the people that picks the crops, that provide a valuable service to our community.” 

Credit Bob Jagendorf / Flickr.com
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Then-candidate Trump campaigned on building a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, claiming there were “bad hombres” in the mix.  But several studieshave shown that immigrants are actually less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans. 

Copyright 2017, KLCC.

Brian Bull is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Oregon, and remains a contributor to the KLCC news department. He began working with KLCC in June 2016.   In his 27+ years as a public media journalist, he's worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (22 regional),  the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from  the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.
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