by David Bacon

Washington State today is ground zero in the effort to hold back the massive use of agricultural guest workers by U.S. growers, and to ensure that farmworkers, both those living here and those coming under the H-2A visa program, have their rights respected. For a second year, on Aug. 4 workers and their supporters marched 14 miles in 90-degree heat through berry fields just below the Canadian border, protesting what they charge is widespread abuse of agricultural labor.

“Farmworker families have been living and working in local fields since the early 1950s,” according to Rosalinda Guillén, director of Community to Community, a farm worker organizing and advocacy group in Whatcom County. “But we’ve seen a big increase in growers’ use of the H-2A guest worker program in the last few years, and it’s had a huge impact on working conditions in the fields. We’ve had to feed guest workers who come to us hungry, fight to get them paid their wages, and help them deal with extreme work requirements. At the same time, our local workers find they’re not being hired for jobs they’ve done for many seasons.”

At dawn on Aug. 4, 200 marchers gathered in front of the immigration detention center in Ferndale, about three hours north of Seattle. Before starting the 14-mile peregrination, Guillen told the crowd that most of the immigrants detained there, and later deported, are farmworkers. “The Trump administration is targeting our local community, deporting people who have been living here for years,” she charged. “Then growers complain there aren’t enough workers, and begin using the H-2A program to bring in guest workers. It is a vicious revolving door of exploitation.”

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Agricultural Workers Survey, there are about 2.5 million farmworkers in the U.S., about three quarters of whom were born outside the country. Half are undocumented and the rest are visa holders or people born in the U.S.

Last year growers were certified to bring in 242,762 H-2A workers – a tenth of the total workforce and a number that in just four years has increased from 139,832.

In 2017, Washington State growers were given H-2A visas for 18,796 workers, about 12,000 of whom were recruited by WAFLA (formerly the Washington Farm Labor Association, a H-2A labor contractor). “We predict growers will request more than 30,000 H-2A workers during 2019,” according to Washington Employment Security Department Commissioner Suzi LeVine.

The department estimated that 97,068 farm workers were employed in Washington State in 2016, so the projected number of H-2A workers would be a third of the entire workforce.

At the same time as H-2A employment is rising, deportations are increasing. The Trump administration deported 256,000 people in 2018, just slightly more than the number of people brought to the U.S. under H-2A visas. Local deportations are increasing as well in Washington. In August last year 16 people were arrested and held at the Ferndale center. Half were deported immediately, and others were charged bail as high as $18,000 to be released pending hearings. A month earlier 19 others had also been arrested for deportation.

Stories are common, according to C2C, of people stopped for traffic violations, and then held for detention by immigration authorities. In 2017, Gov. Jay Inslee signed an executive order barring state agents from helping to enforce federal immigration laws in most cases, ordering them not to ask about immigration status. Nevertheless, immigration detention centers are scattered around the state, including one of the nation’s largest in Tacoma, three hours south of Whatcom County, where the GEO Group holds around 1,500 people.

Protesting Exploitation at Crystal View Raspberry Farm

After leaving the Ferndale detention center, people walked north for four hours, arriving at the Crystal View Raspberry Farm. There they stopped to hold an informal hearing to highlight the decision by the farm’s owners to bring in 80 guest workers for this year’s blueberry harvest.

Growers recruit H-2A workers every year from other countries, mainly Mexico. Companies using the H-2A program must apply to the U.S. Department of Labor, listing the work, living conditions and wages workers will receive. The company must provide transportation and housing. Workers are given contracts for less than one year, and must leave the country when their work is done. They can only work for the company that contracts them, and if they lose that job they must leave immediately.

The H-2A program has its roots in the notorious “bracero” program, which brought workers from Mexico in extremely exploitative conditions starting in 1942. At its height in 1954 about 450,000 workers were brought in by growers, and in the same year over a million people were deported – the same “vicious revolving door” described by Guillen. Although the program was abolished in 1964, the H-2 visa on which it was based was never eliminated. In 1986 an organized farm labor importation program began again, and the H-2A visa was created. It has been growing ever since.

In August last year, about 60 Crystal View workers, brought from Mexico and Guatemala under H-2A visas, went on strike to protest the non-payment of their wages. They reached out to Community to Community (C2C) and Washington’s new farm worker union, Familias Unidas por la Justicia, looking for help. Workers told C2C organizer Edgar Franks they’d been threatened that if they didn’t work fast enough they’d be fired and sent back home. “They didn’t feel safe reaching out to anyone because of the threats,” he said. Workers were isolated because they lived on the farm property, miles from the nearest town, and had no cars or transportation of their own.

by Aracely M. Ortega

The Economic Development Agency of the Mission (MEDA), based in the Mission District neighborhood in San Francisco, was awarded the “Affiliate of the Year” award granted by the national organization UnidosUS, formerly called National Council of La Raza ( NCLR) for its work to give Latinos tools and information to achieve the American dream and obtain financial stability.

The award was presented to MEDA on Aug. 5 during the 2019 Annual Conference held in San Diego for its commitment to achieve a significant change for the Latino community. The “Affiliate of the Year” award is the greatest honor given to a UnitedUS affiliate.

“UnidosUS has been very fortunate to have MEDA as part of our network of talented affiliates who face critical issues and improve lives,” UnitedUS President Janet Murguía said.

“We are honoring MEDA for its strong passion to help working Latino families gain greater financial security and achieve the American dream,” he said.

Because many families face economic challenges and displacements, MEDA’s approach is through building resistance and prosperity in one of the most expensive cities in the nation.

MEDA works to strengthen the financial well-being of Latino families of moderate and low income by promoting economic equity and social justice through the creation of assets and economic development in the San Francisco Bay area.

It offers almost all its services at no cost, and its strategies focus on accessible housing, small businesses, access to capital and education. It serves 7,300 people every year.

“MEDA is honored to be selected as a United States affiliate of the year 2019,” said Luis Granados, executive director of MEDA.

He said his diligent work team works daily to strengthen immigrant and low-income families. In addition they are now sharing their model nationwide.

“This work is inspired by the power of the collective and individual experience of our Latino community,” he said.

He added that MEDA is very proud to be part of the 269 organizations that make up the UnidosUS affiliate network by working collaboratively towards a common goal of building equity through the power, name and wealth of Latinos.

MEDA works with UnidosUS as a digital innovation program fellow to scale the impact of MEDA’s Viva! a financial capacity toolkit for an online platform.

This will offer an interactive tool for instructors, clients and communities that allows them to work together on family development and wealth building plans.

MEDA works with five UnitedUS affiliates to build financial capacity programs using the MEDA’s Viva! for community development.

Meda was born in 1973 to serve small businesses. According to Luis Granados, they are also currently working on the development of accessible housing, access to capital and political commitment for immigrant families or children of immigrants. The goal for 2020 is to prevent and reverse the displacement of families. In recent years, 8,000 Latinos have been forced to leave their homes in the Mission neighborhood, 25 percent of the community.

The Affiliate of the Year award was made possible by the generous collaboration of the Ford Motor Company Fund, a longtime ally of UnitedUS in its commitment to advance the interests of the Latino community.

The Ford Motor Company Fund is the philanthropic arm of the Ford Automotive Company.

“The Ford Fund congratulates MEDA’s impressive work to empower Latino families in their excellent economic development programs,” said Joel Avila, community development manager in the United States and Latin America of the Ford Automotive Company Fund.

“It is very stimulating to continue our collaboration of more than 25 years with UnidosUS to strengthen communities throughout the country,” he said.

In addition to rewarding MEDA with $25,000 in cash, UnidosUS also recognized regional beneficiaries of its affiliate network. Each of the winners was given $5,000 in cash at the lunch of the National Conference for Affiliates.

Other organizations that were awarded are: Esperanza, Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio as the Midwest affiliate; Affiliate of the Far West Latino Network of Portland, Oregon; Northeast affiliate: Puerto Rican Association in March, Inc. (APM) of Philadelphia; Southeast affiliate: East Coast Migrant Head Start Project of Raleigh of Northern California; The Texas Affiliate, Your Family Clinic.

The UnitedUS affiliate network consists of almost 300 community organizations that provide a variety of key services and resources to millions of Latinos throughout the country.

The Annual Conference of UnidosUS is a central meeting place for affiliates, and that includes thousands of people representing community organizations, non-profit organizations, government, corporations and academic institutions.

UnidosUS, formerly NCLR, is the largest Hispanic defense and civil rights organization in the nation. With the joint work of researchers, leaders, programs and its network of affiliates throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, for more than 50 years, UnitedUS has challenged the social, economic and social barriers that affect Latinos at national and local levels.

El presidente dijo que el nuevo servicio de salud trabajará con las universidades para capacitar más

por Mexico News Daily

El presidente López Obrador dice que México necesita 123,000 médicos más para cubrir las necesidades del país.
“Hay 270,600 médicos generales en el país, y de acuerdo con las normas internacionales, deberíamos tener 393,600 médicos”, dijo durante una visita a un hospital rural en Michoacán el sábado. “Eso significa que somos 123,000 médicos cortos”.
Según la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE), un país debe tener un médico por cada 333 residentes. Según una estimación del Banco Mundial para 2017, México cuenta con un solo médico por cada 477 personas.
El presidente agregó que la escasez de médicos está relacionada con las bajas tasas de ingreso en las universidades para los programas de medicina.
“Es por eso que hay una escasez”, dijo. “Necesitamos más médicos generales, necesitamos más especialistas”.
Dijo que 13,000 personas solicitaron su admisión en la facultad de medicina de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma, pero solo 216 fueron aceptadas. La elección de carrera más popular entre los futuros estudiantes es la de un cirujano. En febrero, dijo López Obrador, había 11,198 solicitantes para 140 lugares.
Dijo que el nuevo Instituto Nacional de Salud para el Bienestar trabajará con las universidades para capacitar a más médicos.
El instituto, que aún no ha sido aprobado por el Congreso, operará con un presupuesto de 80 mil millones de pesos (US $4.2 mil millones) y reemplazará al Seguro Popular, que ofrece servicios médicos a personas que no están cubiertas por la seguridad social.
Fuente: Notimex (sp), W Radio (sp).

Algunos inversores extranjeros nerviosos se están retirando, ven mayor riesgo en México
Han estado vendiendo títulos públicos desde febrero

Los tenedores extranjeros de valores gubernamentales han comenzado a retirar sus inversiones debido a la disminución de la confianza en el gobierno federal y la economía mexicana, y la expectativa de que el Banco de México recortará las tasas de interés.
Las estadísticas del banco central muestran que el valor de los bonos del gobierno y los certificados del tesoro federal en manos de los inversionistas extranjeros fue de 2.11 billones de pesos (US $111 mil millones) el 9 de julio, la cantidad más baja desde el 14 de diciembre.
Desde el 8 de febrero, cuando el valor de la deuda pública en manos extranjeras alcanzó un nivel récord, los inversionistas descargaron valores por un valor de 162 mil millones de pesos (US $ 8.5 mil millones), informó el periódico El Universal.
La inversión extranjera en certificados de tesorería, que son más fáciles de cobrar, ha disminuido a su nivel más bajo desde marzo de 2018.
“Los inversores ya están empezando a ponerse nerviosos y, si bien perciben un mayor riesgo, es posible que veamos más ventas de valores del gobierno y que la tasa de interés de los bonos suba”, dijo Ernesto O’Farrill, gerente general de Bursamétrica, una firma de corretaje de la Ciudad de México.
A pesar de decisiones como la cancelación del nuevo aeropuerto de la Ciudad de México, el gobierno federal generó confianza entre los inversionistas durante sus primeros meses en el cargo luego de presentar un presupuesto para 2019 que fue descrito como fiscalmente prudente y realista por muchos analistas.
La primera venta masiva de valores emitidos por el gobierno por parte de la administración de López Obrador a mediados de enero generó un fuerte interés de los inversores.
Más de 300 inversionistas institucionales de las Américas, Europa, Asia y Medio Oriente participaron en la subasta y la demanda para comprar valores excedió la oferta por cuatro.
Pero la confianza de los inversionistas ha disminuido debido a las bajas en la calificación soberana de México y la de Pemex, y la posibilidad de que haya más recortes en las calificaciones.
“Los inversionistas anticipan los ajustes de las agencias calificadoras y deducen que Moody’s eliminará el grado de inversión de Pemex en los próximos meses como lo hizo Fitch a principios del mes pasado”, dijo O’Farrill.
Predijo que las agencias también rebajarán la calificación soberana de México pero no por debajo del grado de inversión. Fitch redujo su calificación soberana para México a una muesca por encima del estado de chatarra el mes pasado, pero si él y otras agencias de calificación bajaran, se produciría una enorme venta masiva de bonos del gobierno.
“El noventa y cinco por ciento de los inversionistas están en valores del gobierno porque México tiene un grado de inversión”, dijo Oarrill.
Otros factores que han puesto nerviosos a los inversionistas son los recortes generalizados a los pronósticos de crecimiento para la economía mexicana y la renuncia de Carlos Urzúa la semana pasada como secretario de finanzas.
El Universal informó que los inversionistas ahora ven inestabilidad en la implementación de políticas públicas y han respondido retirando sus inversiones en valores gubernamentales. El retroceso podría acelerarse a medida que el Banco de México se acerque más al recorte de las tasas de interés, que muchos analistas creen que ocurrirá en agosto o septiembre.
Otro factor que pesa en la mente de algunos inversionistas es la decisión de la Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE, por sus siglas en inglés) de buscar un arbitraje internacional destinado a anular cláusulas en siete contratos de ductos.
Uno de los contratos que el servicio público está tratando de renegociar es el del gasoducto Texas-Tuxpan, que fue construido conjuntamente por la compañía canadiense TC Energy (anteriormente TransCanada).
El embajador de Canadá, Pierre Alarie, se pronunció en contra de la decisión de la CFE, mientras que el jefe de misión adjunto de la embajada dijo que la acción legal ha generado preocupación entre los inversionistas canadienses.
“La verdad es que desde las acciones de la CFE, recibo llamadas todos los días con respecto a la señal que México está enviando a los inversionistas canadienses. Piden nuestro consejo para saber si México aún quiere más inversión y qué hacer con su inversión actual y futura. Sí, son acciones que causan preocupación “, dijo Jean-Dominique Leraci.
Fuente: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp).

The president said new health service will work with universities to train more

by Mexico News Daily

<p>President López Obrador says Mexico needs 123,000 more doctors to cover the country’s needs.
“There are 270,600 general practitioners in the country, and according to international norms, we should have 393,600 doctors,” he said during a visit to a rural hospital in Michoacán on Saturday. “That means we’re 123,000 doctors short.”
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a country should have one doctor for every 333 residents. Based on a 2017 World Bank estimate, Mexico has only one doctor for every 477 people.
The president added that the shortage of doctors is related to low admission rates at universities for medicine programs.
“That’s why there’s a shortage,” he said. “We need more general practitioners, we need more specialists.”
He said 13,000 people applied for admission to the faculty of medicine at the National Autonomous University, but only 216 were accepted. The most popular career choice among prospective students is that of a surgeon. In February, López Obrador said, there were 11,198 applicants for 140 places.
He said the new National Institute of Health for Well-Being will work with universities to train more doctors.
The institute, which has not yet been approved by Congress, will operate with a budget of 80 billion pesos (US $4.2 billion) and replace the Seguro Popular, offering medical services to people who are not covered by social security.
Source: Notimex (sp), W Radio (sp)

Nervous foreign investors are pulling back, see higher risk in Mexico
They have been selling off government securities since February

Foreign holders of government securities have begun withdrawing their investments due to declining confidence in the federal government and the Mexican economy, and the expectation that the Bank of México will cut interest rates.
Statistics from the central bank show that the value of government bonds and federal treasury certificates in the hands of foreign investors was 2.11 trillion pesos (US $111 billion) on July 9, the lowest amount since December 14.
Since February 8 – when the value of government debt in foreign hands hit a record high – investors have offloaded securities worth 162 billion pesos (US $8.5 billion), the newspaper El Universal reported.
Foreign investment in treasury certificates, which are easier to cash in, has declined to its lowest level since March 2018.
“Investors are already starting to get nervous and while they perceive greater risk, we may see more sales of government securities and the interest rate for bonds may go up,” said Ernesto O’Farrill, general manager of Bursamétrica, a Mexico City brokerage firm.
Despite decisions such as the cancelation of the new Mexico City airport, the federal government generated confidence among investors during its first months in office after presenting a 2019 budget that was described as fiscally prudent and realistic by many analysts.
The first sell-off of government issued securities by the López Obrador administration in the middle of January garnered strong interest from investors.
More than 300 institutional investors from the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East participated in the auction and demand to purchase securities exceeded supply fourfold.
But investor confidence has waned on the back of downgrades to Mexico’s sovereign rating and that of Pemex, and the possibility that more ratings cuts are still to come.
“Investors are anticipating rating agencies’ adjustments and they deduce that Moody’s will strip Pemex’s investment grade in coming months like Fitch did at the start of last month,” O’Farrill said.
He predicted that agencies will also downgrade Mexico’s sovereign rating but not below investment grade. Fitch cut its sovereign rating for Mexico to one notch above junk status last month but if it, and other rating agencies went lower, a huge sell-off of government bonds would occur.
“Ninety-five per cent of investors are in government securities because Mexico has investment grade,” O’Farrill said.
Other factors that have made investors nervous are the widespread cuts to growth forecasts for the Mexican economy and Carlos Urzúa’s resignation last week as finance secretary.
El Universal reported that investors now see instability in the implementation of public policy and have responded by withdrawing their investments in government securities. The pullback could hasten as the Bank of México draws closer to cutting interest rates, which many analysts believe will happen in August or September.
Yet another factor weighing on some investors’ minds is the decision by the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) to seek international arbitration aimed at annulling clauses in seven pipeline contracts.
One of the contracts the utility is seeking to renegotiate is for the Texas-Tuxpan gas pipeline, which was jointly built by the Canadian company TC Energy (formerly TransCanada).
Canadian ambassador Pierre Alarie spoke out against the CFE’s move, while the embassy’s deputy head of mission said that the legal action has triggered concern among Canadian investors.
“The truth is that since the actions of the CFE, I receive calls every day with regard to the signal that Mexico is sending to Canadian investors. They ask for our advice in order to know if Mexico still wants more investment and what to do with their current and upcoming investment. Yes, they’re actions that cause concern,” Jean-Dominique Leraci said.
Source: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp).</p>

by Mark Hedin

Ethnic Media Services

The Census Bureau has said it expects to hire about a half-million people nationwide to help in its all-important counting of everybody living in the United States, something the government has done every 10 years since 1790.

That half-million hiring target is a sizable decrease from the last census, in 2010, when the bureau was more dependent on shoe leather than silicon to get the work done. Instead of the 635,000 people hired in 2010 to knock on doors to fill out questionnaires with people who hadn’t gotten theirs to the mailbox, in 2020, for the first time, the government is counting on people filling out their forms online.

The half-million Census Bureau jobs are open to any U.S. citizen who can pass a background check, is at least 18 and possesses a Social Security number. In California, census officials project they will fill or already have filled about 12,800 positions.

“It’s a relatively fluid number, just a projection,” said Celeste Jimenez, assistant regional census manager based in Los Angeles. That’s because for “enumerators,” the biggest category of census workers, the number of people hired will depend on how many people didn’t complete their census questionnaires promptly next year, leading the Census Bureau to hire people who know their communities and languages and can go out into the field and come back with completed questionnaires from the non-responders.

This year, the Census Bureau is focused on setting up and staffing offices across the country and checking and updating the list of addresses used to send people reminders and instructions on filling out the 2020 Census questionnaire online when it is released in mid-March.

In California, where there will be 30 census offices up and down the state, the administrative jobs ꟷ mostly already filled or due to fill soon (https://census.gov/about/regions/los-angeles/jobs/california.html)  ꟷ are expected to last all the way through till the census gathering is completed next summer, at a pay scale ranging from $18 to $51 per hour, depending on the assignment and the location.

The next wave of hiring, for “listers” who will do the address verification work this year, is under way. Those jobs pay from $16.50 to $33 per hour and are expected to last only for a couple of months, including paid training.

To apply for these positions, go to https://2020census.gov/en/jobs.html. Yolanda Lazcano, recruiting coordinator for the “Los Angeles Region,” which covers the entire West Coast from California to Alaska, plus Hawaii, Idaho and Nevada, is hoping to recruit 11,000 applicants for approximately 3,500 lister positions in California.

Next year, after mailings are sent out with instructions on the legally required process of filling out the census questionnaires, the biggest wave of hiring will begin: for “field staff” or “enumerators” to do the “non-response follow-up” work that in large part consists of knocking on doors at addresses where residents didn’t file completed questionnaires.

These positions also will be filled through the Census Bureau website: https://2020census.gov/en/jobs.html.

The Census Bureau hopes that having people file their questionnaires online will yield billions of dollars in savings on the shoe leather it’s always needed to get those questionnaires completed. It expects at least half of the country’s more than 300 million people to take the online option.

Nonetheless, Lazcano expects that each of California’s 30 census offices will need about 300 enumerators.

In the past, with questionnaires submitted through snail mail, the cost per person of gathering census data had grown to $92 in 2010, from just $16 in 1970, as measured in constant dollars.

The ability to bridge language barriers will be invaluable, and in fact is a requirement for some of the managerial positions the Census Bureau still has open in California, such as this one for a Spanish speaker in Bakersfield (https://census.gov/about/census-careers/opportunities/positions/region-field/cfm/LARO-CFM-CA22.html) or this one for a Chinese-language speaker in the Contra Costa County city of Concord: (https://census.gov/about/census-careers/opportunities/positions/region-field/cfm/LARO-CFM-CA47.html). (The application period for those two positions closes June 14.)

The Census Bureau is touting its jobs as ideal for people just starting their working life who need to establish a record of reliability, for people who can use the frequently evening or weekend hours to supplement jobs they already have, or for retirees who would like to re-enter the workforce in a limited way.

As for the background checks, Lazcano said that hiring will be on a case by case basis, so having a felony conviction, for instance, isn’t necessarily a disqualifier.

Lazcano said bilingual census staff will be needed wherever 5 percent or more of a community is believed to primarily use another language.

Payday comes every week and people using their cars will be reimbursed. Although the jobs are in most cases temporary, the work occasionally can lead to a career.

The state of California also is devoting millions of dollars to help ensure that the 2020 Census includes everyone in the state. As of early June, there are just a few state of California jobs related to the census, listed here (https://census.ca.gov/job-opportunities/). But the state will not be hiring enumerators or listers. That’s the federal Census Bureau’s responsibility.