Migrant Workers

A documentary about the everyday story of migrant workers in the Imperial Valley makes its Imperial Valley film debut Thursday night. The art collective BODEGA - Espacio Creativo - from the Imperial Valley and Mexicali created the film titled “El Field” last year. “'El Field' goes beyond addressing the biased representation of the border and the labor of a population that faces a stigma day by day; it also examines the astonishing agricultural capacity of a nation that feeds millions domestically and worldwide,” the film's synopsis reads.

BRAWLEY - As a case manager for Clinicas de Salud del Pueblo Inc. here, Lalita Hermosillo has learned to navigate through the delicate process of relating to people who have been diagnosed HIV-positive. Most of Hermosillo's clients, as she call them, are migrant workers who have contracted the disease in the United States, she said. Sadly, health-care officials said, the seasonal workers then head back to their families, where the disease is spread. A number of the workers who labor in the fields of the Imperial Valley and elsewhere in California come from Mexico.

Beatriz Salto, 19, has finally found her roots in the rich soil of the Imperial Valley. After years of moving, the daughter of migrant workers found a home in El Centro. Now she is leaving that home for a new world at University of California, Riverside. Salto graduated in the top 20 Thursday with the other 320 students from Central Union High School's class of 2001. At the ceremony, salutatorian Tae Kon Kim, who spoke no English when he came to the United States from Brazil just five years ago, addressed his classmates.

Parents of Holtville Unified School District children, it is about to happen again. It is the great migration of teachers out of Holtville and into neighboring school districts. There was a time when Holtville was a bastion of migrant workers. Those that have lived in our fine community for four or five decades or longer will remember the brasero camps that used to be just across the bridge on Orchard Road, or the one that was where Horizon Farms is located just east of Holtville. Today many of our migrant workers live in El Centro, Calexico, Brawley, and Heber.

Staff Writer With bright yellow daisies in one hand and a small shovel in the other, elementary school students throughout the Imperial Valley honored the memory of farm laborer activist Cesar Chavez on Monday. Five elementary schools took advantage of an $11,288 grant ? designated for Cesar Chavez Day beautification projects ? and enhanced their campuses by planting arrays of vivid daisies, pink petunias and willowy fern trees. The grant, awarded to the Imperial County Office of Education student well-being and family resources office, is part of a $5 million statewide grant designed to teach students the value of community service, a key component in Chavez's life.

Staff Writer CALEXICO ? To commemorate Cesar Chavez's birthday, a host of Calexico's "Chavistas" marched from the border to Rockwood Park carrying red flags bearing the United Farm Workers logo and shouting "Si se puede!" In El Centro, the Chicano Correctional Workers Association sponsored the second annual Cesar Chavez celebration and pageant. At both events, Cesar Chavez's life's work of fighting for the rights of migrant field workers was praised, but participants at each event stressed that the struggle, "la lucha," did not end when Chavez died in 1993.

Staff Writer CALEXICO ? Mayor Pro Tem Frank Montoya plans to meet with former Mayor Arturo Rioseco this week to discuss plans for a rest stop/bus depot for farm workers a short walking distance of the border ? possibly near Guadalajara's Restaurant on Third Street. Rioseco told the City Council on Tuesday that there is millions of dollars in state grants available for construction of centers for migrant workers. He said there are comparable "centers for deployment of workers" in Salinas and the San Jose area that were funded with such grants.

-Establishes a guest visa program under which working illegal immigrants already in the United States could apply for legal status and stay after paying a $1,500 fine and a $500 application fee. -Allows temporary visa holders to apply for citizenship after four consecutive years of U.S. residency and an additional fine of $1,000. -Institutes visa quotas wherein new visas are issued based on requests from American employers. -Requires that visas and IDs issued to immigrants be machine-readable and include biometric information.

> > Establishes a guest visa program under which working illegal immigrants already in the United States can apply for legal status and stay after paying a $1,500 fine and a $500 application fee. > > Allows temporary visa holders to apply for citizenship after four consecutive years of U.S. residence and an additional fine of $1,000. > > Institutes visa quotas wherein new visas are issued based on requests from American employers. > > Requires that visas and ID's issued to immigrants be machine-readable and include biometric information.

It's refreshing to have someone run for political office who actually stands for something beyond pleasing everyone. At the corner of Highway 98 and Cesar Chavez Boulevard. (the old Railroad Boulevard that contacts with Mexicali train traffic) across the street from Santo Tomas Swap Meet and near Vincent Memorial High School and Mains Elementary, there's a sign on a large rig side that reads, "Abortion is violent. " We know it's true but it's right there at a high school, elementary school entrance and on the way to Mexico.

A documentary about the everyday story of migrant workers in the Imperial Valley makes its Imperial Valley film debut Thursday night. The art collective BODEGA - Espacio Creativo - from the Imperial Valley and Mexicali created the film titled “El Field” last year. “'El Field' goes beyond addressing the biased representation of the border and the labor of a population that faces a stigma day by day; it also examines the astonishing agricultural capacity of a nation that feeds millions domestically and worldwide,” the film's synopsis reads.

BRAWLEY - As a case manager for Clinicas de Salud del Pueblo Inc. here, Lalita Hermosillo has learned to navigate through the delicate process of relating to people who have been diagnosed HIV-positive. Most of Hermosillo's clients, as she call them, are migrant workers who have contracted the disease in the United States, she said. Sadly, health-care officials said, the seasonal workers then head back to their families, where the disease is spread. A number of the workers who labor in the fields of the Imperial Valley and elsewhere in California come from Mexico.

When the old bracero camp on Danenberg Road in El Centro is brought up to 58-year-old John Hernandez, the thoughts of what migrant workers went through are still vivid in his mind. ?It kind of brings back the smell, that smell of blood, sweat and tears of the workers,? Hernandez said of the camp that sits near the intersection of Danenberg Road and Farnsworth Lane. ?It kind of desensitized me.? In the early 1960s, only about 10 years old, Hernandez was an altar server with a Catholic church in El Centro that serviced the bracero camp.

Parents of Holtville Unified School District children, it is about to happen again. It is the great migration of teachers out of Holtville and into neighboring school districts. There was a time when Holtville was a bastion of migrant workers. Those that have lived in our fine community for four or five decades or longer will remember the brasero camps that used to be just across the bridge on Orchard Road, or the one that was where Horizon Farms is located just east of Holtville. Today many of our migrant workers live in El Centro, Calexico, Brawley, and Heber.

WASHINGTON (MNS) ? Daylight has yet to grip the early morning, but representatives from Vessey and Co. farms of El Centro already stand in Calexico near the Mexican border waiting for the milling crowd of workers lined up on the other side to cross into Imperial Valley. The Vessey officials and other employers call out to those looking for work ? whether it is for the day, the week or any period of time ? vying to get someone, anyone to help offset the labor shortage they?ve been facing.

> > Establishes a guest visa program under which working illegal immigrants already in the United States can apply for legal status and stay after paying a $1,500 fine and a $500 application fee. > > Allows temporary visa holders to apply for citizenship after four consecutive years of U.S. residence and an additional fine of $1,000. > > Institutes visa quotas wherein new visas are issued based on requests from American employers. > > Requires that visas and ID's issued to immigrants be machine-readable and include biometric information.

-Establishes a guest visa program under which working illegal immigrants already in the United States could apply for legal status and stay after paying a $1,500 fine and a $500 application fee. -Allows temporary visa holders to apply for citizenship after four consecutive years of U.S. residency and an additional fine of $1,000. -Institutes visa quotas wherein new visas are issued based on requests from American employers. -Requires that visas and IDs issued to immigrants be machine-readable and include biometric information.

The fourth annual Regional Migrant Parent Conference on Saturday at El Centro's Valley Community School attracted more than 200 participants, including United Farm Workers of America founder Dolores Huerta, who spoke about the future of migrant families and their children. Topics such as nutrition, developing reading skills, higher education and the dynamics of migrant families were the focus of several rounds of seminars throughout the day. Hidali Garcia, director of Migrant Education Region 6 for the Imperial County Office of Education, said the conference is the culmination of meetings and workshops throughout the year with migrant parents.

It's refreshing to have someone run for political office who actually stands for something beyond pleasing everyone. At the corner of Highway 98 and Cesar Chavez Boulevard. (the old Railroad Boulevard that contacts with Mexicali train traffic) across the street from Santo Tomas Swap Meet and near Vincent Memorial High School and Mains Elementary, there's a sign on a large rig side that reads, "Abortion is violent. " We know it's true but it's right there at a high school, elementary school entrance and on the way to Mexico.

Staff Writer With bright yellow daisies in one hand and a small shovel in the other, elementary school students throughout the Imperial Valley honored the memory of farm laborer activist Cesar Chavez on Monday. Five elementary schools took advantage of an $11,288 grant ? designated for Cesar Chavez Day beautification projects ? and enhanced their campuses by planting arrays of vivid daisies, pink petunias and willowy fern trees. The grant, awarded to the Imperial County Office of Education student well-being and family resources office, is part of a $5 million statewide grant designed to teach students the value of community service, a key component in Chavez's life.