California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom, has unveiled a $4.5 million pilot program specifically aimed at providing free immigration legal aid to undocumented farmworkers.
As part of the state’s labor investigations, this program will offer case review services, legal advice, and attorney representation, all at no cost to the workers involved.
“Farmworkers are the backbone of our economy and we won’t stand by as bad actors use the threat of deportation as a form of exploitation,” Newsom said in a press release. “In the absence of Congress modernizing our broken, outdated immigration system, California continues our efforts to support immigrant families.”
An estimated 50% of California’s farmworkers are reportedly in the country illegally.
Newsom’s launched the program to alleviate illegal immigrants’ “fear of retaliation from bad actor employers, including the threat of deportation and difficulties obtaining other jobs without work authorization.”
“This new pilot program looks to prevent the exploitation of undocumented farmworkers by providing additional tools for California labor enforcement departments to help address workers’ fears of pursuing their rights due to their immigration status,” the press release adds.
The move to financially support the legal efforts of illegal immigrants comes despite California recently announcing a nearly $32 billion budget deficit.
California is home to more than two million undocumented immigrants, according to the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).
Last year, California became the first state to offer taxpayer-funded health insurance to all of its 4.4 million illegal aliens and their United States-born children.
California has been considered a “sanctuary state” as of October, 2017, when State Bill 54, also known as the California Values Act, was signed into law by then-Governor Jerry Brown.
The legislation created statewide sanctuary for those who may be living in the state as illegal aliens.
