Lisa Held at Civil Eats reports that on January 30th, President Trump’s announcement that his Administration would begin deporting Immigrants to Guantánamo Bay Prison made big news. But at an apple orchard in Upstate New York, Immigrant Farm Workers signed the first United Farm Workers (UFW) Union contract in the State, joining the legendary California-based Union founded in 1962 by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. Most of the Workers were Jamaicans who are granted entry to the country through the Federal Government’s H-2A Visa Program for just a few months each year during harvest season. But going forward, the new contract will offer protections for all of the orchard’s 150 Workers, regardless of where they come from or what their legal status might be. “It doesn’t matter if they crossed through the desert or if they came through a (Guest Worker) Program,” said UFW organizer Gabriella Szpunt, who helped organize the Workers. “At the end of the day, they’re all looking for the same thing: Something better for their families.” The effort also marks the Union’s first of many steps toward expanding its reach beyond its California Headquarters - the UFW already has eight additional New York contracts in the pipeline.

To Read This Labor News Story In Its Entirety, Go To: Farmworker Unions on the Rise, Despite Anti-Immigrant Policies | Civil Eats