Letter: All Californians paying for illegal immigration
Letters to the Editor October 23, 2018, Chico Enterprise-Record:

In 1979 Cesar Chavez very much opposed illegal immigration as he felt it lowered the wages of his union members. According to some, he actually sent and paid his union members to the border to keep illegals out. Jerry Brown as governor in 1975 opposed illegal immigration for the same reasons.

My question is this. If illegal immigration hurts wages of current Californians, why is Brown and the Democratic Party in favor of a sanctuary state and illegal immigration? We are all having to pay for this “indiscretion.”

— Frank Solinsky, Chico

Cesar Chavez had good reason to oppose illegal immigration. When he attempted to unionize companies (legally), the companies responded by busing in illegals from Mexican and US border communities to work as scabs in the fields and orchards. Chavez responded by calling in the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to remove those who were illegally in the country and did not have permission to work in the United States.

For those who are not familiar with Chavez (who died in 1993), I’ll quote Wikipedia here:

Originally a Mexican American farm worker, Chavez became the best known Latino American civil rights activist, and was strongly promoted by the American labor movement, which was eager to enroll Hispanic members. His public-relations approach to unionism and aggressive but nonviolent tactics made the farm workers’ struggle a moral cause with nationwide support. By the late 1970s, his tactics had forced growers to recognize the UFW as the bargaining agent for 50,000 field workers in California and Florida.

How much did Chavez oppose illegal immigration? This article from 2014 in The American Spectator explains:

and much more

https://stellasplace1.com/2019/09/05/cesar-chavez-and-illegal-immigration-2/#more-25606