Last week, guestworker women across industries and visa categories joined forces at the three-day event The Future of (Guest)Work: Women Building Gender Equity in Labor Migration in Washington, DC. As guestworker women shared their experiences, we witnessed the transformative power of stories. Crab pickers, cruise ship workers, domestic workers, teachers, engineers and farmworkers identified common threads: discrimination, harassment,…
The following letter was delivered to Congress on International Workers’ Day 2019 by The Future of (Guest)Work Migrant Women Delegation. May 1, 2019 Dear Representative, We’re farmworkers, crab pickers and cruise ship workers. We’re chocolate packers, engineers, veterinarians, nurses, domestic workers and teachers from all around the world. We are united by our motivation,…
Every year, hundreds of thousands of guestworkers are recruited for seasonal jobs in agriculture, landscaping and seafood processing. In just 3 days, we met 5120 of them. Last week, we headed from Mexico City to Monterrey — the city that processes the highest number of H-2 visas in the world and our last chance to…
We are devastated by the loss of our beloved friend and colleague, Elizabeth Mauldin, who passed away last week after a brave, six-month battle with cancer. Elizabeth first joined CDM as an advocate in 2012. She then grew to become our fearless policy director, leading advocacy efforts that would impact the lives of hundreds of…
We’re thrilled to report a big win in court! No one should have to pay to work. Recruitment fees are the root of a myriad of labor abuses — leaving workers indebted, and vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation. While federal law prohibits recruitment fees, it is often toothless. This means that employers and recruiters can get away…
Can you hear them? This International Women’s Day, our team is honoring courageous migrant worker women who stand up for their right to a safe workplace. But who are the women willing to blow the whistle? Today, we’re thinking of Mariel, a Mexican veterinarian hired to work in an Oklahoma hog farm under the TN…
On February 15, 2019, President Trump declared a national emergency in an attempt to build a border wall. In response, Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. (CDM) released the following statement: There is no national emergency. What we have is a President who is willing to manufacture a border crisis in order to…
We’re thrilled to welcome Sulma Guzmán, our new policy director, to the CDM team! Sulma joins CDM with a wealth of advocacy experience reflecting her lifelong commitment to workers rights and underserved communities through direct litigation and policy work. She is a native of California’s Central Valley and the proud daughter of farmworkers. Following roles…
We couldn’t pass up the chance to close out the year with one more day of vital migrant worker outreach — only possible thanks to your support! Last Saturday, Claudia Cruz and Rebeca Rodriguez conducted a Know-Your-Rights workshop at the 3rd Migrant Forum in Huimilpan, Hidalgo. Workers, their family members, local authorities and media attended the…
While picking seafood with an H-2B visa, Elisa Martínez Tovar found that her workplace conditions were far from what she was promised. Her employer forced Elisa and her coworkers to live in deplorable housing. Women were channelled into lower paying tasks. Sometimes, they would go weeks without work. Their visas tied them to a single employer. And…