With many of the farmworkers in Southern California being unauthorized immigrants from Mexico, many do not have access to healthcare or if they are documented, they may not have enough money to afford it. Healthcare is very expensive in the United States and if people are working more than 12-hour shifts for very little money, people are not going to be able to rightfully take care of themselves. Mexican immigrant farmworkers are working one of the most dangerous jobs and have to suffer either while working or when they are older and finally are being affected. The lack of access to healthcare has become so bad for some people that they begin to share painkillers with a co-worker when that person is able to get a prescription, (Cheney, et al., 10). Although sharing prescription medications is not something people are allowed to do in the United States, it is the only source of medication for some people. When it is someone like a farmworker from Mexico who is undocumented and does not speak English, they cannot just suffer while they are trying to make a better life for themself and their family.
Lack of access to healthcare does not just mean affordability. There are many factors that go into accessing healthcare. Language barriers, stigmas, and little health care plans for undocumented citizens make it extremely difficult. Nuño, et al., (2022) explain that “the only federal statutory right for health services is through a hospital emergency room,” (p.407). Even with having access to an emergency room, a person could have to pay thousands of dollars, and with the salary farmworkers earn, paying that money would not be a priority because that would take away from providing for their families. For a couple of years when Trump put a rule into effect in 2020, families that had non-cash benefits that would provide them with care would not use them too often because it could affect the government’s decision to give them permanent resident status, (Nuño, et al., 407). This further limited healthcare access for Mexican immigrant families as they feared they would not be given documentation. Mexican immigrants still endure pain as they fear being deported for trying to get help. Mexican immigrants, undocumented or documented, can be expected to work long days to pick food for the country but they are not given easy access to what should be basic human rights. Apart from not having access, Mexican immigrants are threatened and exploited by their employers.
Exploitation of workers is not an uncommon occurrence, especially when there is a language barrier or difference in legal status between employee and employer. Mexican farmworkers have been heavily exploited in Southern California and it largely affects their access to healthcare and their basic human rights. A key issue is that undocumented Mexican immigrants are only working 33 weeks per year due to seasonal changes and they are making 8,700 dollars below the U.S. poverty rate which would mean 17,500 dollars. (Cheney, et. al, 1). Workers are hardly making money but are forced to work many hours. Many of these workers are only taking these jobs because of their legal status so when they are pressured to work with little income, they accept it because it is unfortunately one of the only jobs that will hire them. Cheney interviewed many Mexican immigrant farmworkers and “they also noted some health conditions were directly connected to workplace negligence and their inability to ask for better work conditions” (Cheney, et al., 8). These negligences included the water that was provided to the workers being hot, and not training employees on how to work in conditions that hot for long hours (Cheney, et al., 8). Even though these are serious issues, farmworkers are threatened and scared of losing their job if they say something so they keep quiet and continue to work for little money, long hours, and what they hope will give them a better life one day. Employers do not make life any easier for Mexican immigrant farmworkers.