A couple of miles outside Hillsboro, Or., Hector Ninijosa and his family had moved into a migrant camp for seasonal farmworkers. To Ninijosa and other migratory agricultural workers in 1961, home was hard to pinpoint. The work required families to move every three to four months, following harvesting cycles across states such as Texas, Arizona, and California.
The camp itself had awful conditions. Living spaces were small, exposure to toxic chemicals was frequent, and adequate food or water was scarce. Migrants were expected to do harvesting, weeding, pruning, and irrigation of each plot of land, often for very little pay. Each 14-by-14-foot cabin was designed to accommodate one migrant family, but it was usually crammed with two families.
In such conditions, Ninijosa said, “You grow up a little bit faster, you have different expectations of adulthood.”
He recalls helping with the harvest of many Pacific Northwest staples, such as strawberries, blackberries, and walnuts, when he was only ten years old.
Ninjosa was born in Matamoros, in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, just across the border from Brownsville, Tex. He was two years old when he and his family migrated to the United States in 1950. His family had started farming when he was in the second grade, and their frequent moves impacted his early schooling. The education system was not designed with farm workers in mind, so transcripts varied across locations, and Ninijosa became lost in the system.
During his sophomore year at Hillsboro High School, the school administration implemented a new attendance policy: students who missed more than 10 days of school would automatically fail. Ninijosa missed 15 days of school, and to his dismay, all of his grades were automatically changed to an “F.”
“I’m not like my other counterparts – I’m needed at home if mom and dad need to go to the doctor, if they have a problem with the water bill, if the car breaks down.” Ninijosa said. “I need to go translate for them –– for all these things, I’m needed at home.”
The next term, Ninijosa missed12 days of school. He had a long conversation with the school’s vice principal, arguing that the policies didn’t have reasonable accommodation for migrant children and those who have commitments to farm work. Then he dropped out of high school.
He started working at a gas station and became the manager at age 15. Ninijosa joined the federal Job Corps program in Springfield, where he completed his GED and earned certifications as a machinist and a metal fabricator, graduating a year ahead of his peers.
Ninijosa’s connections to the Mexican American communities remained strong throughout his life. He participated in the Chicano movement in Oregon, a social and political movement that celebrated Chicano identity and fought to end discrimination against the Mexican American community. He is also a member of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).
Ninijosa stayed deeply connected with his parents, and still takes care of his mother in Hillsboro. He is also the father of five children. He has a small contract currently as an advisor to the Metro West Ambulance for diversity and inclusion. In his role, he is expanding cultural competency for the program and helping to break down language barriers.
“Picture this, somebody from your community calls 911, and they don’t speak English,” Ninijosa said. “And the ambulance shows up, how are they going to communicate with that language barrier?”
Ninijosa explained how he trains first responders to better communicate with non-English-speaking community members during emergencies, to recognize cultural barriers, and to navigate patient care.
He continues to personally advocate for better conditions for farmworkers, reaching far beyond where he started.
“Today I’m looking beyond that. Today farmworkers in Oregon don’t have the right to collective bargaining to form a union,” Ninijosa said. “I am hoping we can change and create a law that would acknowledge Oregon farmworker collective bargaining rights under the Agriculture Labor Relations Act.”
Nationwide, there are registered 2.9 million agricultural workers. Of that total, 70 per cent are immigrant farmworkers, and 40 per cent are undocumented. Oregon currently has 637,000 farm workers according to USDA records. The average annual farmworker’s salary in Oregon is $34,120.
Oregon migrant workers are still subjected to many of the conditions that Ninijosa experienced in his past, such as low wages, substandard housing, and dangerous working conditions. In recent years, farm workers have faced new threats, including immigration enforcement raids and legal challenges to unionization.
But some of the obstacles farm workers face are not new at all. Mass deportations also took place in the 1930s, Ninijosa observed, offering a striking parallel to the deportation campaign led today by the Trump administration.
“We don’t learn from our history, from our past, from our mistakes,” Ninijosa said. “We’re not acknowledging the value of immigration to this country.”
U.S. farm owners often have trouble finding native-born U.S. citizens who are willing to do the punishing work involved in hauling in harvests. Federal and state regulations set strict limits on the number of hours per day a farm worker can work, and federal and state rules also prohibit extended hours in times of excess heat. Workers’ housing is also more closely monitored under OSHA, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Still, Ninijosa contends that immigrant farm workers are under appreciated by the very communities whose food they harvest. After all, he said, “these are honest working families that are taking the chance to better their lives.”