GPB's Sofi Gratas reports from the state capitol, where students from farmworker families visited lawmakers.
Agriculture is Georgia’s leading industry, creating billions of dollars in revenue for the state every year, and bringing fresh food to the dinner table.
That’s something family members of farmworkers wanted to remind lawmakers during a recent visit to the state Capitol.
Organized by the Latino Community Fund Georgia on March 21, Farmworking Families Day brought together dozens of students who are U.S. citizens and are enrolled in the College Assistance Migrant Program and others pursuing their GED, alongside their educators.
Open to first-year college students whose families are seasonal or migrant farm workers, the program offers transitional support to young people who would otherwise have limited resources to navigate college entry, both emotionally and financially.
Three public universities in Georgia offer the college program. Jesus Valles is part of the class of CAMP students at the University of North Georgia in Gainesville. His family moved from Texas where his father worked with cattle.
“I was able to find friends, I was able to make connections, I was able to network with people,” Valles said of the program.
Gigi Pedraza, founder and executive director of the Latino Community Fund Georgia (LCF), made the point to welcome the students during the fifth annual visit, with an emphasis on their families, and their own empowerment.
“This is the people's house,” Pedraza said.
“The Senate and the House are in session at the moment, making decisions that are going to affect our lives every day,” Pedraza said. “We ought to make sure that they know that we are here to stay, that we are here to build Georgia, that we make Georgia the state it is.”
The size of Georgia’s Latino population ranks among the top 10 states in the U.S., according to data from the Census Bureau compiled by the Latino Community Fund Georgia in its annual report.
On farms in the Southeast, foreign-born people make up the majority of the labor pool. Though many farmworkers from other countries are settled in communities, migrant farmworkers, typically those who move around and work on seasonal crops, still represent just over 40% of the total number of reported laborers in Georgia, as reported to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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It was Alexis Gonzalez’s first-ever visit to the Georgia Capitol. A student at Valdosta State University, she lives in South Georgia’s Echols County, and both her parents are farmworkers. In a postcard addressed to her state representatives, Gonzalez advocated for her family and the community of Latino immigrants at large.
“Whenever he's buying groceries or driving past a new building that’s being built, think of us,” Gonzalez said.
People like Gonzalez are part of the growing population of U.S.-born Latinos in Georgia.
“We're like everyone else,” Gonzalez said. “We have little families here. Families that work early in the morning and go to sleep late at night.”
Except now, Gonzalez said she’s having to think about the safety of her community more than ever before. Growing fears over her parents' detainment by immigration enforcement mean Gonzalez has taken on extra responsibility.
“I'm the one driving now ... they don't want to go out as much,” Gonzalez said. “On top of being a college student and getting my assignments done, it's added pressure. It's added stress.”
She said she finds consolation in being with a group with shared experiences.
“A lot of the students here are the oldest sibling,” said group leader also from Valdosta State University, Laura Gallegos.
A point of pride, but it also means that just as they enter adulthood, some kids of parents without legal U.S. citizenship are getting their parents’ homes and possessions put in their names, as a backup plan.
“They're having to carry the responsibility, just in case a parent gets pulled over and taken,” Gallegos said.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has indicated his support behind the collaboration of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and local law enforcement. In addition to green-lighting legislation that mandates partnerships between sheriffs and ICE under the 287(g) program, recently Kemp announced that all state police are to be trained to collaborate with ICE as well.
In that March 17 statement, Kemp said, "If you are in our country illegally and committing crimes, you have no place in Georgia. This is another commonsense measure on top of those we've taken since I first took office to further enable hardworking law enforcement to assist in identifying and apprehending illegal aliens who pose a risk to public safety."
But on Friday, immigration was not the top item on the legislature’s calendar.
Instead, the students of migrant families watched as lawmakers in the Senate chamber debated tort reform.
College student from Moultrie, Karla Martinez, said the visit to the Gold Dome was a chance to learn about a process that many in her district are largely left out of.
“I'm first gen, so nobody in my family has gone to college, voted or anything like that,” Martinez said. “I want to get a better understanding of, you know, how this works, get more involved in my community.”
That’s the goal for longtime educator and former farmworker, Olga Contreras Martinez.
“The students are learning ... that these representatives come from their districts to represent them,” Contreras Martinez said.
And that the democratic process is for everyone, even those who live hundreds of miles away from where laws are actually passed.
“For them to get to walk these halls, get to see that these people are just people, just like us,” she said.
It’s a brief educational program, but one that can stick with kids for a while, Martinez said, and that they can bring back to their families and communities. Her own son is now a legislative intern.
But how many more groups have access to this opportunity is uncertain.
Last week, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education as the Georgia House began preparing for that order.
The College Assistance Migrant Program, with programs at universities all over the country, receives its funding through the Office of Migrant Education at the U.S. Department of Education and is listed on the Georgia Department of Labor's website for farmworker advocacy.
But, like so many others, Martinez said she doesn’t know what will happen.
“Without the funding, we won't be able to continue the work that we do," she said. "But we hope that at least we have helped a good many."
