The New York Times. April 04, 2020

(Brent) #1
THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020 N A

Tracking an OutbreakU.S. Response


Silva and other undocumented
field workers at any time.
But local law enforcement au-
thorities said the letters might
give immigrant workers a sense
of security that they will not be ar-
rested for violating stay-at-home
orders.
“If you have people who per-
ceive that they may be stopped
and questioned or deported be-
cause of their status, under these
circumstances, having that letter
makes them feel comfortable,”
said Eric Buschow, a captain with
the sheriff’s office in Ventura
County, where thousands of farm-
workers labor in strawberry, lem-
on and avocado operations. “They
can go to work. And their work is
essential now.”
The pandemic has also put
many of Immigration and
Customs Enforcement’s opera-
tions on hold. On March 18, the
agency said it would “temporarily
adjust its enforcement posture” to
focus not on ordinary undocu-
mented immigrants, but on those
who pose a public safety or crimi-
nal threat.
The agency said it would not
carry out enforcement actions
near health care facilities “except
in the most extraordinary of cir-
cumstances” and would instead
focus its efforts on human traffick-
ing, gangs and drug enforcement.
“Those of us without papers live
in fear that immigration will pick
us up,” Ms. Silva said. “Now we
are feeling more relaxed.”
Across the country, farmwork-
ers have been struggling to under-
stand what the coronavirus out-
break will mean for their safety
and livelihoods. Even if they face a
lower risk of deportation, many
worry that the close working con-
ditions in fields and packing facili-
ties put them at risk for contract-
ing the virus, and some ware-
house workers are seeing their
hours cut as employers adjust to
the shifting market.
For many workers, the fact that
they are now considered both ille-
gal and essential is an irony that is
not lost on them, nor is it for em-
ployers who have long had to navi-
gate a legal thicket to maintain a
work force in the fields.
“It’s sad that it takes a health


crisis like this to highlight the
farmworkers’ importance,” said
Hector Lujan, chief executive of
Reiter Brothers, a large family-
owned berry grower based in Ox-
nard, Calif., that also has opera-
tions in Florida and the Pacific
Northwest.
Mr. Lujan, whose company em-
ploys thousands of field workers,
described them as unsung heroes
for guaranteeing that Americans
have food security.
“Maybe one of the benefits of
this crisis is that they are recog-
nized and come out of the shad-
ows,” said Mr. Lujan, whose com-
pany has been lobbying Congress
to pass a bill that would legalize
immigrant farmworkers.
About half of all crop hands in
the United States, more than one
million, are undocumented immi-
grants, according to the Agricul-
ture Department. Growers and la-
bor contractors estimate that the
share is closer to 75 percent.
Despite increased mechaniza-
tion, the agriculture sector has
continued to struggle with a
dearth of labor because many
fruits and vegetables must be har-
vested by hand to avoid bruising.
In a 2017 survey of farmers by
the California Farm Bureau, 55
percent reported labor shortages,
and the figure was nearly 70 per-
cent for those who depend on sea-
sonal workers. Wage increases in
recent years have not compen-
sated for the shortfall, growers
said.
Strawberry operations in Cali-
fornia, apple orchards in Michi-
gan and dairy farms in New York
and Idaho are wrestling with a
shrinking, aging work force, a
crackdown at the border, and the
failure of Congress to agree on an
immigration overhaul that could
provide a steady source of labor. A
surge in deportations and the vol-
untary return of many Mexicans
to their home country have aggra-
vated the shortage. As a result,
growers increasingly have turned
to a seasonal guest-worker pro-
gram, officially known as the H-2A
program, to fill gaps in their labor
supply. The number of workers on
the visa rocketed to 257,667 in the
2019 fiscal year, compared with
48,336 workers in the 2005 fiscal
year.
Growers panicked after the
State Department paused all visa
processing in Mexico during the
public health emergency. In re-
sponse to an outcry, the depart-

ment announced on March 26 that
it would waive in-person inter-
views, enabling most applications
to be vetted in time for the peak
harvest.
American agriculture is at a
critical juncture, with a massive
volume of produce to be harvested
between now and August. In Cali-
fornia, citrus fruit is still being
plucked off the trees, strawberries
are getting underway, and many
other crops will ripen in the sum-
mer. In Georgia, Vidalia onions
and peaches will soon be mature.
In Washington, apple trees are
heavy with fruit in the summer.
Letters notifying undocument-
ed workers that they are “essen-
tial,” when they still officially face
potential deportation, are sending
the same mixed signals that have
long been at the root of American
agricultural labor policy, accord-
ing to many who work closely with
the process.
“Some people are really con-
fused by the message,” said Reyna
Lopez, executive director of
P.C.U.N., a union representing ag-
ricultural workers in Woodburn,
Ore. “The government is telling
them it needs them to go to work,
but it hasn’t halted deportations.”
She and other advocates said
employers are not doing enough
to educate their workers, who of-
ten do not speak English, about
the coronavirus. “When people

don’t understand the risks, they
don’t take necessary precau-
tions,” Ms. Lopez said.
The pandemic carries particu-
lar risks for agricultural workers.
Most do not receive sick pay if
they fall ill, and they lack health
insurance. The $2 trillion pan-
demic aid package that passed
Congress last week does not offer
any assistance to undocumented
immigrants.
Armando Elenes, secretary-
treasurer of the United Farm
Workers, said that letters affirm-
ing that workers are “essential”
do not substitute for “meaningful
steps to stem the pandemic by
protecting farmworkers with ba-
sic actions.” Those would include,
he said, extending sick leave to 40
hours or more, making it easier
for workers to claim sick days and
providing more aggressive disin-
fection of work areas.
Some growers, like Reiter
Brothers, have trained workers on
how to stay healthy, including fre-
quent handwashing and the
proper techniques for coughing
and sneezing. The company has
increased the number of hand-
washing stations in the fields and
spaced out workers who are pick-
ing strawberries. The company
also offers medical care.
Jim Cochrane, a grower of or-
ganic berries, artichokes, broccoli
and other crops in Santa Cruz,

Calif., told his workers that he
would keep paying them if they
contracted the virus and had to
miss work, even for three weeks.
But such policies are excep-
tions, according to the United
Farm Workers. Agricultural
workers in packing warehouses
and poultry plants, who often
work in close quarters, are both
fearful of getting the virus and
worried about recent cutbacks
that have threatened their ability
to work.
Maura Fabian, 48, packs grapes
for schools and hospitals in a
warehouse in the Central Valley
near Fresno, where she said that
about half the workers have been
let go; the others, she said, includ-
ing her, have had their hours dras-
tically cut.
Since March 16, Ms. Fabian has
worked four-hour shifts most
days, and been told not to report at
all on other days.
She assumes that her employer
has thinned the packing lines be-
cause, with schools closed, de-
mand for packed fruit is down.
The company is also trying to pre-
vent the spread of the coronavirus
among workers, she said.
“We’re afraid of this illness. But
we are more afraid that we won’t
be able to make a living,” said Ms.
Fabian, a single mother who
bought a house in October, where
she lives with her three children.

In Idaho, where a statewide
stay-at-home order began on
March 25, dairy owners are
scrambling to ensure that the in-
dustry’s 8,000 workers, 90 percent
of them undocumented, can keep
working. Even before the virus,
the industry, which needs workers
year-round to milk the cows, had
been grappling with a labor short-
fall.
Rick Naerebout, chief executive
of the Idaho Dairymen’s Associa-
tion, said he had fielded calls from
many dairy farmers worried that
their workers may be unable to
get to work if the authorities begin
enforcing domestic travel restric-
tions. So he has been providing
members with a template to print
out on official letterhead and dis-
tribute to workers, stating that
they are now considered essential
workers, part of the nation’s criti-
cal infrastructure.
“The fact that there is that cog-
nitive recognition that we have to
allow these individuals to travel to
and from work because they are
critical — that’s the complete op-
posite of what they’ve heard for
nearly their entire lives, that they
have taken away opportunities
from Americans,” he said.
“At the highest level of govern-
ment, now we’ve seen this be rec-
ognized. Whether it’s formal or in-
formal, there’s this acknowledg-
ment that, you’re OK.”

Field workers struggle to understand what a pandemic means for their safety and livelihood, even if they face less risk of deportation.

CARLOS CHAVARRÍA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Caitlin Dickerson contributed re-
porting from New York.


IMMIGRATION


Farmworkers in U.S.,


Many Undocumented,


Are Deemed Essential


From Page A

AJO, Ariz. — Motels, mobile
home camps and Airbnbs in this
small Arizona border town are full
up. Work crews stream into eat-
eries for takeout orders. License
plates on trucks parked outside
the crowded laundromat come
from as far away as Alaska.
Around the country, some
states have cut back on construc-
tion activity to curb the spread of
the coronavirus, and hotels and
restaurants in many cities have
closed. But here in Arizona, the
federal government is embarking
on a frenetic new phase of con-
struction of the border wall.
The Trump administration con-
tends that the wall will help pre-
vent the spread of the virus into
the United States from Mexico,
though epidemiologists and the
director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention say such a
barrier would not mitigate the
outbreaks already occurring in
every state.
The intensification of construc-
tion during the pandemic is rais-
ing fears among residents of Ajo,
Ariz., and other nearby border
communities that the growing in-
flux of workers increases their
risk of exposure. Some disease
specialists in Arizona are warning
that workers clustered in tight
quarters along the border could
spread the virus around the coun-
try when they return to their fam-
ilies.
“This administration’s priority
is to get the wall done. The rest of
us might as well be damned,” said
Maria Singleton, 57, an Ajo resi-
dent who has documented in
Facebook posts how wall con-
struction is affecting the town —
with traffic, noise, dust and, now,
new worries about getting sick.
The busy scenes around Ajo are
among the many signs of rela-
tively brisk business in Arizona,
which until Monday had been one
of a shrinking number of states
where governors had opted
against issuing stay-at-home or-
ders. In fact, Gov. Doug Ducey, a
Republican, prohibited county
and city officials in Arizona from
declaring their own shelter-in-


place orders.
But the governor changed
course on Monday after the may-
ors of several large cities, includ-
ing Phoenix, Tucson and
Flagstaff, wrote a letter urging
him to “learn from the unfolding
events in our sister states” and is-
sue a statewide stay-at-home or-
der.
Mr. Ducey issued a directive
preventing people from leaving
their homes except for food, medi-
cine, exercise and other “essential
activities.”
He said the order, which allows
police officers to warn violators
before citing them, was aimed at
ensuring there would be sufficient
capacity in Arizona’s health care
system for infected patients. Mr.
Ducey is still allowing businesses
to remain open if they are consid-
ered essential, which in Arizona
includes golf courses, nail salons
and pawn shops.
The state is facing a surge in co-
ronavirus cases. Pima County,
which includes small outposts like
Ajo as well as the city of Tucson,
had 187 confirmed cases of the co-
ronavirus as of Monday after-
noon, with six fatalities. Across
the state, at least 20 people are
known to have died from Covid-
and more than 1,100 have tested
positive for the virus.
The new wall construction in
southern Arizona is part of a
wider plan to expand fencing
along the 1,100-mile border, a sig-
nature goal of President Trump’s.
The Department of Homeland
Security announced plans this
month to build or replace more
than 91 miles of barriers along the
border between Arizona and Mex-
ico. Authorities are also planning
to build 86 miles of wall along
stretches of the border in other
states.
In recent days, New York,
Washington State, Massachusetts
and Pennsylvania have all put lim-
its on nonessential construction,
leaving room in some cases for
such projects as hospitals and
homeless shelters.
But in Kansas City, Mo., work is
moving forward on the $1.5 billion
expansion of the Kansas City In-
ternational Airport. And in Flor-

ida, Virgin Trains USA is proceed-
ing on a $4 billion train route be-
tween Orlando and West Palm
Beach. Construction is also still
taking place on some major public
venues, such as the $4.9 billion
SoFi Stadium, a sports-and-enter-
tainment complex on the site of
the former Hollywood Park race-
track in Inglewood, Calif.
Turner AECOM Hunt, the joint
venture overseeing the construc-
tion of the stadium, confirmed this
week that an ironworker on the
site had tested positive for the co-
ronavirus.
Ajo, a haven for artists and re-
tirees that draws snowbirds in the
winter from around the United
States, is far removed from most
of the coronavirus hot spots in the
country, and seemingly ill-pre-
pared for any outbreak.
The town’s hospital, founded by
the Phelps Dodge Corporation in
the days when Ajo was a copper
mining town, lies abandoned; a
small clinic now provides basic
health care.

Many of those living in Ajo are
older adults, and there are fears
that they are especially vulnera-
ble to any transmission among the
crowds of construction workers,
engineers and truck drivers who
have been descending in recent
months.
During her morning routine of
writing in her journal, praying and
drinking coffee, Ms. Singleton all
month has been counting the
large number of semi trucks bar-
reling through Ajo to worksites
along the border.
“I counted 22 trucks one morn-
ing and it made me sick to my
stomach,” Ms. Singleton said.
While bars are closed and
restaurants are only providing
takeout, it remains hard to get a
hotel room in the town. Workers
unable to stay in hotels or RV
parks are living cheek by jowl in
rented houses.
“Put the wall on pause immedi-
ately, that’s my advice,” said
Kacey Ernst, an infectious disease
epidemiologist at the University

of Arizona who has watched the
new construction boom with
alarm. “These workers are poten-
tially amplifying the virus around
the country when they return
home. This needs to stop.”
So far, there appears to be no
plan to slow down construction.
Raini Brunson, a spokeswoman
for the U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers, said the agency was follow-
ing “government and C.D.C.
guidelines” to determine how best
to proceed with the work.
“As the guidance changes, deci-
sions will be made as to how con-
tractor employees will be af-
fected,” Ms. Brunson said in a
statement.
Kiewit Corporation, the Ne-
braska construction giant that has
hundreds of millions of dollars in
contracts to build the wall near
Ajo and other stretches along the
border, said it had taken steps to
protect workers, including having
support personnel work from
home, reorganizing work crews,
sanitizing shared equipment and

screening employees for virus
symptoms.
“This is an unprecedented situ-
ation, and we are updating our
policies, procedures and guidance
to workers daily as the situation
evolves,” said Angela Nemeth, a
Kiewit spokeswoman. Ms.
Nemeth said there were no known
cases of company workers on the
border wall testing positive for the
coronavirus.
The outbreak has been seized
on as new ammunition for Mr.
Trump in his longstanding effort
to justify the border barrier.
“We will do everything in our
power to keep the infection and
those carrying the infection from
entering our country,” he said at a
campaign rally in February.
But epidemiologists say that a
wall would do little or nothing to
stop the virus, which initially en-
tered the country via infected
travelers who arrived on air-
planes and cruise ships.
“I’ll be blunt: We already have
so many outbreaks around the
country and so much community
transmission that the wall is
meaningless for preventing
spread of the virus,” said Tara C.
Smith, an epidemiologist at Kent
State University in Ohio.
Dr. Smith added, “Even if a few
extra cases make it across the
southern border, those are
teardrops in the ocean right now
in terms of what we are facing.”
In an unusual twist to border
politics, leaders in Mexico are ex-
pressing concern that the wid-
ening outbreak in the United
States could threaten stability in
Mexico. The governors of states in
northern Mexico have recently
urged their president to do more
to stop people from crossing into
Mexico from the United States.
Yet some in Ajo are not at all
perturbed about the pace of bor-
der wall construction, which they
see as a welcome lift for the town.
“The wall is a blessing,” said Za-
kir Shah, 47, a Pakistani immi-
grant who owns La Siesta Motel &
RV Resort, which is nearly at full
capacity thanks to the influx of
wall workers. “Business is getting
stronger for me now. There’s no
need to shut this down.”

ARIZONA


Work Continues on Border Wall Despite Fears Over Spread of Illness


Maria Singleton, a resident of Ajo, Ariz., worries that work crews will only endanger residents.

ADRIANA ZEHBRAUSKAS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

By SIMON ROMERO
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