For many, school is not an option
By Melinda Burns
Knight Ridder News Service
SANTA MARIA, Calif. — In some ways, Apolinar Ramirez Garcia, who died in a car crash near Sisquoc this month, was a typical 17-year-old boy: He had a way with girls, and he loved to dance.
But most of Apolinar's life as a teenager was not so carefree. At the time of his death on May 4, driving home after a 10-hour day picking lettuce, he had been working full time in the fields of the Santa Maria Valley for three years. He did not attend school.
Apolinar's death brings into sharp relief one of the open secrets of the valley's lucrative strawberry and vegetable operations — child labor.
In some ways, farmworkers say, it is nothing new: Underage workers have always labored full time in the fields here. But what's different now, they say, is that more teens than ever seem to be emigrating from Mexico and heading straight for the fields — so many that some of the older workers fear for their own jobs.
"The bosses want young and strong persons, recently arrived here," said Pedro Lopez, who heads the United Mixtec Farmworkers Organization in Santa Maria. "Young people will work faster."
Superior Court Judge Barbara Beck of Santa Maria, who presides over the county's juvenile court, notes an apparent influx of teen immigrants.
"I'm seeing very young kids, 15 and 16 years old, coming into the country," Beck said. "It's getting more prevalent than it was. I don't know what kind of papers they have. They're working in the fields, at car washes and fast-food places that don't have the ability to check for IDs."
Many immigrant parents, such as Onofre Ramirez, Apolinar's father, say they depend on their children's wages.
"I would never blame the growers. ... We poor people have to find a way to get ahead," Ramirez said. "You never know what the future holds. So you lie to the bosses and you tell them you're 18. It's a necessity of life."
On paper, at least, the rules governing child labor in California are strict. They were enacted to protect children from physical harm and put an end to the cycle of poverty by requiring that children attend school. Yet in practice, state officials say, there is an underground economy in California agriculture that makes it easy to exploit undocumented workers, including children.
Last year, the California Department of Industrial Relations uncovered only 26 violations of child labor law in agriculture, compared with 185 in all other industries.
"It's hard to find minors who are working," said Dean Fryer, a department spokesman. "When we see child labor, we go after it. But it may not be reported. Parents want the kids to work, and they need the money. The work crews move frequently, too. If we get a report on any given day, by the time we get out there they may have moved on."
Child labor laws apply to all minors here younger than 18, including undocumented immigrants. Children younger than 16 are required to attend school full time; those younger than 18 are allowed to work while school is in session if they have finished seventh grade.
Minors younger than 18 must have a permit from a school district to work. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds who have not finished high school and are working must attend continuation school.
For some immigrant teens in the valley, school is simply not a choice. They started working in Mexico before they were 12, without finishing sixth grade. In Santa Maria, they are supporting themselves and sending money to parents and siblings across the border. Many working teens come from the impoverished Mixtec region of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico.
"I had to stop studying because we had no money," said one 17-year-old Mixtec girl who arrived here a month ago to pick strawberries full time. She said she had been out of school for three years.
During the peak of the strawberry season this month, she is working 10 hours per day and picking about 50 trays. At $1.50 per tray, that's a daily wage of $75.
