Iriana Medina, Executive Director of La Plaza, explains how the H-2A visa program helps provide the seasonal agricultural labor for the valley’s farmers, orchardists, and grape growers. Migrant agricultural workers using the H-2A visa program are here legally. Listen to learn more about the H-2A program, what La Plaza does, and how you can get involved.
Theme Music: Riverbend by Geoff Roper
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Transcript:
Welcome to the Postcards From Palisade podcast. I’m Lisa McNamara. Palisade is most famous for its peaches, but there’s so much more happening in our little town. Join me as I chat with our community members to hear about how they are making Palisade a great place to live and visit.
What is the H-2A visa program and why is it so important for Palisade and the Grand Valley? Today, Iriana Medina, Executive Director of La Plaza,
Iriana: Hola. Hello.
Lisa: OK, looks good.
Iriana: OK.
joins me to talk about why this visa program is crucial to our town and how it helps provide the seasonal agricultural labor that meets the needs of the valley’s farmers, orchardists, and grape growers.
Migrant agricultural workers using the H-2A visa program are here legally. I wanted to chat with Iriana to understand more about the people the valley relies on to help harvest our crops and to clear up any misconceptions about these workers who play a crucial role in Palisade’s ecosystem.
Lisa: thank you so much for being here with me today.
Iriana: Of course, thank you, Lisa. my name is Iriana Medina and I am the Executive Director at La Plaza here in Palisade.
Lisa: I really appreciate you being here today and the main reason I reached out to you originally was to talk about migrant workers and the H-2A program and to get a little bit better understanding of that and how it works today. But before we jump right into that, I’d love to talk more about your role at La Plaza and what the organization does. anybody who’s been listening to this podcast for a while knows that I talked to Nelly Garcia, the former executive director, almost two years ago in episode number four about what she was working on at La Plaza. And at that time it was reorganizing, rebranding from Child and Migrant Services to La Plaza. So much has happened since then in the last two years. So as the current executive director, I’m curious about what your vision is for the organization, how you want to engage with the community and how you want the organization to support migrants and immigrants.
Iriana: Thank you. Yeah. So just like how you just mentioned in two years a lot have happened. and well, you mentioned Nelly. Nelly, our former director, is the person that envisioned La Plaza. Just because Child and Migrant Services had a lot of names and there wasn’t a unified name or a way to identify one place. So she made the rebranding happen. And with the rebranding, the mission and vision of the organization expanded. I wouldn’t say it changed. I would say it expanded because like you’re saying, we have been known to be the entity that takes care of the migrant workers for 67 years. Then at year 67 is when the rebranding started to happen and with this game changer idea that Nelly had. And yes, we’re still taking care of the migrant workers. That’s the core of the organization still and it’s the core of this town. But we also wanted to be there for families that live in the valley too. Not just in Palisade, but in the valley.
Basically what we did was like I said, expand in our services and because many of the families that were migrant workers became immigrants. So they were migrant families that decided to stay at some point and they had La Plaza to be their peer of guidance and the place that they would come to still get food supplies from the food pantry and clothing from the migrant thrift store and things like, and other services too. Navigation services, guidance on how to, where to go if I need to renew a driver’s license, how to get an appointment for the DMV, that kind of thing. The need of being open year round was there and we also. So it kind of like organically merged to taking care of migrant to taking care of immigrants too. So this was a necessity just because we, the Child and Migrant Services was already doing that taking care of immigrants that one point were migrants. And so we weren’t including them in our mission. So that’s why it evolved to what it is now.
Lisa: I noticed that La Plaza is hosting more events now. Like there’s the tamale making class, there’s the food services courses, there’s the English conversation group. So how do all those things fit into how you want La Plaza to kind of be a part of the community?
Iriana: Yeah, exactly. this kind of activities just foster community. You just said it. So basically incorporating our migrant and immigrant community into activities that would encourage exchange, culture, values, customs, way of living and make it a whole. This country is made out of multiple cultures. This country is made out of, forged by immigrants of all origins. And so we basically were seeing the need of making it normal, making it a, like a habitual thing to have activities where folks from different cultures were just unite and I believe it’s a way of promoting peace too because understanding the culture of other people different than yours and living it, living it somehow, whether it’s through cooking tamales or having a concert with music that is different from what you’re used to, then you have a taste of it and kind of like get used to it and incorporate it hopefully to what your normal for a person would be. So basically it comes down to empowering, mixing cultures and having people be okay with being surrounded by something that’s different.
Lisa: Appreciating the culture. So I recently spoke with I don’t know if you know JoAnn Rasmussen. She’s the chair of the Palisade Historical Society. So I recently spoke with JoAnn about migrant labor in the past. So, you know, who were these people who came to work in Palisade around the harvest and the past, like before the 1960s and you know, I think what’s interesting is like, in that time, like up until the 1960s, there was a migrant camp, and there was a migrant camp in Riverbend park. And there was actually an area supported to housing migrants. There were community services as part of that park. you know, there’s all of this support system kind of in place there, provided by people who lived there, local residents, you know, churches, other local organizations.
And it seems like when, you know, late 1960s, that changed where, the park was forced to be disbanded. It definitely was not, you know, sanitary. They didn’t have like, running water, things like that. Very important things. And at that time, the farm owners were then expected to house their migrant workers. And things started shifting about where people came from. Basically what I was thinking about listening to that, that function that La Plaza provides to people who come here to work or people who move here, after coming here to work, is that community center that used to be provided in one way. And so it’s just really interesting to me that it became more of like an individualized thing for the farm owners to actually have to house their own workers, we lost that kind of communal support system. And it just makes me think that really La Plaza is that place now, that center where everyone can come to be together instead of being separated out.
Iriana: Yeah, well, the legislation around H-2A workers have changed over the years. And so, and that’s why at this point, we only have migrant workers. Back in the day, we used to have migrant families. And so that’s how it all started out, some wives of some of the local growers seeing the need in the fields families and entire families, including kids, underage kids, waiting for the parents to finish their journey in harsh conditions, whether it was snow, rain, or sun, heat. And so yes, it started out as an organization or just a community effort thing. And it evolved to become a nonprofit at some point. But, yeah, the beginning, it was about providing the basic needs of services of basic needs for these families. Like, and that’s why the name was Child and Migrant Services. Because the first of all the specifically for kids of these families that were in the fields with their parents while they were working. So there was a need of child care and then other services.
So migrant services. What does a migrant need? So they, they need clothing depending on the season. They need a food pantry. So let’s get a food pantry. There was a food pantry still. There still is. But that, that is not our main thing right now because we have evolved from basic services to now empowering people. So it’s, it’s all about making a platform so they could feel safe, so they could feel like they belong. And if, if it’s a brand new person say that there is a young adult that started coming as an H-2A worker, I’ve seen them. It’s, it’s a scary thing. You know they even though they’re men and they’re around men only, for a young kid it could be intimidating definitely. Just the work itself. Just being in a place where I don’t speak the language that everyone else speaks outside of the orchard and where do I go if I need to go to the bank, how do I open a bank account, and things like that. So those are overwhelming questions and things that could go through a young adult mind once they start coming here. Those guys that have been coming here for 8 years, 10 years, 15 years, 30 years we have, we see people at La Plaza that have been coming for over 30 years to serve this community and they have it more clear although they keep coming to us because of this sensation of being surrounded by people that is just like them. That will provide them with the information they need and anything that they need to do. And that feels good on our end because that’s what we’re here for. For people to feel confident, safe, and to be in a place that they belong.
Lisa: That’s so important because like I mean I can’t if you. I picture myself going somewhere to work where I don’t know anybody, I don’t have any friends, I don’t speak the language just even. It’s a really scary thought. So yeah knowing that there’s a place to go to have resources would be really important.
Iriana: And the good thing is that there is a cooperative sense of acting or being around the orchard workers because they encourage brand new people to come to us and to yeah to come to us for resources. And so that feels, that feels good. I mean it’s a recommendation, a word of mouth recommendation. And so we’re very happy to know, that some of these people are encouraged to come to us when they’re. Especially when they’re new in the area.
Lisa: How are you preparing for this upcoming season at La Plaza?
Iriana: At La Plaza, we’re educating our people on their rights. So we are an organization that serves migrants and immigrants. And this year we have been working really hard on educating our community what their rights are as an immigrant. Because everyone, even if it’s a not undocumented immigrant, have rights in the amendments in the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the United States and its amendments are good for US citizens and immigrants too. So we are educating them around this and we are letting them know what are the specific amendments that will protect them in any possible case of facing an immigrant officer. And we’re equipping them with what we call a ‘know your rights’ card. It has the amendments that protects them and it also has what’s called the magic words. And basically the magic words are questions that they could ask an officer like, have I done something wrong, am I good to go? Things like that.
Lisa: So it fits into the broader picture of empowering people. So you’re empowering people to know their rights and exercise them.
Iriana: correct again. La Plaza, the focus of La Plaza have shift to empowering the community that we serve. And whether, like I said, whether it is through an activity to do with the general community, the opportunity for them to share a story or their background or what they cook at home and/or for them to know their rights, which is, it’s a basic need but at the same time it’s a tool that could empower someone.
Lisa: So for you, what’s your background or like, how did you get to this position? What made you interested in working in this field?
Iriana: I am an immigrant myself. I’ve always been around nonprofits. I’ve always worked for nonprofits volunteering for many years. I volunteer for an organization called AFS which is American Field Services. It’s an exchange student program. And I was an exchange student once. And when, when I came back to my country, I started working for them as a volunteer and I volunteered there for ten years. I’m originally from Venezuela and in Venezuela I finished school for HR, so I got a masters in human resources. And my family in Venezuela are farmers. I come from a state where, farming is big as long as oil. But my family were focused on farming and working the land and having cattle and things like that.
So, I’ve been around farm workers my whole life and this kind of programs and organizations to support workers that work in the field doesn’t exist in Venezuela. So when I saw this, I just loved it. I, when I first applied to work for La Plaza, I applied for the coordination and community engagement coordination. And I got it and I, was very excited. It was a very exciting news when I heard that I, when they called me and offered me the position. So I’ve been doing this, from the love of my heart because I’m working with people that are just like me, an immigrant just like me and people that work in the fields.
Back in, back home, I was born and raised in the city. I come from a city of 3 million people. So it’s Maracaibo. Maracaibo is the second largest city after Caracas. And my, the farms of my family were in the country of my home state. And so I used to ride five hours to the town where my mother was born, which is where the farms of my family are, still are. and I would go there two times or three times a year because I needed to get out of the city. I mean I love, I love my hometown dearly, but I had to go back to the country as many times as I could just to take a break from the city. And I just love, I just love town life. I just love slow paced town lifestyle. So this, this was just a perfect fit for me, really.
Lisa: Yeah, it’s like a perfect combination of everything. And you’re doing awesome work. It just seems like you’re really, just stepped into the role and you’re really thriving in it.
Iriana: Thank you. I’m in a very, steep learning curve right now and I try to keep it humble. I know what I can bring to the table. And this, even though this was a challenging position for me, I knew consciously the challenge I was embracing. And the people that I’m serving, they can be sure that I am doing the best I can as a person, as a professional and as a service provider.
Lisa: I love that. I mean, that’s kind of the best we can do, right?
Iriana: Yeah, exactly.
Lisa: Let’s get into the main reason that I wanted to talk to you, which is to just get a better understanding of what the H-2A program is. We were at a lunch and learn a few months ago and I think I felt like a couple of the questions that people were asking, after the main presentation, it did feel like there are a few people in the room and probably just because of what they did, but you know, they just didn’t know what the H-2A program was. And I think if you’re not maybe directly tied into a farm or farm owner or a relative or somebody who works on a farm you might not really have a good idea of. They might not be as visible to you of what happens here and how important this program is to the farm owners in the town of Palisade. So, can you just talk about what the H-2A program is and then we can get into kind of what the steps are that it involves.
Iriana: Yeah. So H-2A, it’s the name of the visa. It’s an acronym basically. I know that A stands for agriculture. And so, yeah, H-2A is the name of the visa that these individuals come to the country with to work in the agriculture. In the fields. So they get granted anywhere in between three, six, to nine months, out of the year to be able to work in a farm, for this amount of time, with all the legal settings that it includes. So they do file taxes, pay taxes. They don’t get tax benefits though, because of the nature of the visa. But they do pay taxes for sure. So the growers need to put a notice out. Like. Is this called file? No, hold on. It’s when you put a notification for an ad.
Lisa: You put. Let’s see. Sorry. like a job posting.
Iriana: Job posting. That’s the word.
Lisa: Yeah. So they need to post their job to, they need to post it publicly.
Iriana: Yes. So the growers need to do a job posting here in the US, calling out for farm workers. They have to do this every year and they need to show proof that they have done the due diligence to be able to hire people here. So then they need to show that there was no interest and that they need to get labor from abroad to be able to operate their farms.
Lisa: I think one of the points you made too is that they have to actively recruit US workers. So it’s not like this, it’s not just like this paperwork thing. Like they don’t just post the job, take it down after a day and say, oh, sorry, nobody applied, oops. They actually have to actively try to recruit people. So it’s not, it’s not just to check the box. It’s like you actually have to try to find people that can work for you.
Iriana: Yeah. Yes. And that usually doesn’t happen. And the retention rates are pretty low when it comes down to having American workers in the fields. And so that’s why they relay so heavily in this H-2A program. So they need to go through the Department of Labor and get a certification to be able to go through the USCIS and be able to bring workers from abroad. Most of these individuals are from Mexico. And I believe it has to do with the proximity because they are the neighbors.
Lisa: but they could be from anywhere.
Iriana: But they could, they could be from anywhere. But here in Palisade most of them are Mexican citizens that come under the H-2A program. So then they have to go through this bureaucratic paperwork and fee thing. Usually there is, I believe there is like an agency back in some cities, main cities in Mexico and so they recruit people over there and then they have to go over to the US Embassy, sign their visas. They have like an interview process and signing process. They put their fingerprints, and then they, they’re good to come. And so they, many, most of them come in a bus or in a van and they ride all the way from their homes to Palisade. So that’s, that’s, that is. It sounds easy but it’s a very tedious process and, and a very time-consuming and money-consuming thing to do.
Lisa: Yeah, I know there’s kind of like a love hate relationship with it with for farm owners because it’s a great program but it’s also a lot of work.
Iriana: And then the regulations back to comparing to what it used to be and to what it is right now. Back in the day the growers didn’t have to provide with housing or any of the stuff that they do have to provide now. So they come and live in trailer homes within the premises of the property of the orchards. And so they pretty much live where they work. And this has to be, this is one of the regulations and the things that the program makes the growers do and it is provide housing for the people that they’re going to be bringing.
Lisa: I believe they also have to provide like a standard wage too. They can’t just you know, can’t pay less than what a minimum wage would be for that type of work.
Iriana: Yeah, correct.
Lisa: And then meals, transportation and just working conditions that meet federal and state standards.
Iriana: Yeah, there’s usually a van in each orchard. And so they usually there is scheduled times where they go out to town and they do grocery shopping or other errands that they have to do. And so other than that they will have to find a way to get out of the farm. And so that’s why we had, one of our programs is the bike lending program.
Lisa: I love it. So you don’t feel isolated. Like if even just you know again thinking about myself I would feel isolated. So just the fact that you’ll have that option for people to rent a bike and it’s for. I mean it’s lending for the season. Right. If they sign up.
Iriana: It really is lending program. It’s not renting. We lend them and we maintain them. We do the services. So once they. We have a volunteer that comes and makes a maintenance on the bikes and when they get here all the bikes are pretty much ready to go and to be ridden. And we are so happy and proud and excited about this program because we just love to see them around on the weekends when there’s a day off. Usually you could see them in town whether it’s in the laundromat or at the park or sometimes at the store. And they even go out to Clifton. They don’t stay here. They go out to places.
Lisa: Yeah, yeah. And just to have that freedom and flexibility is great because again that there’s a certain basic minimum that the farm owners have to do. But then beyond that just think about like just for the quality of your life. You know, you want to have that sense of freedom in your time off. So I love that program.
Iriana: Exactly. And that’s empowering too just for a person to have the freedom to go down to the river, I don’t know, to throw rocks in the river, just to watch the geese flying and landing in the river. I mean I just. Just leisure time, time time for yourself. It’s. It’s detrimental for the well being of a human being.
Lisa: Absolutely. Yeah so that’s a lot of steps in the process. And then even once they have hired workers they still have to show and prove that they’re complying with all the standards. The farm owners have to show that they’re complying with all the standards.
Iriana: It is a very taxing program for the growers. I have no doubt of that.
Lisa: Yeah. About how many H-2A visas do we typically have here in Palisade? Average?
Iriana: Anywhere around 400 to 500. It can vary depending on many things. You know some people sell their farms, some people, you know, and then climate change is the thing that, that takes place in this decision too on how many people we’re bringing.
Lisa: Sure, yeah. Some years there’s a huge crop, some years there’s less. And then right as it, the farmer is going to know what they’re go going to need each year. So that makes sense. But that’s a lot of people. 400 to 500 average.
Iriana: I believe that most of them have kind of like in their numbers down. For the amount of trees that they’re going to be taken care of. So.
Lisa: So obviously we still. There are other people working the fields too. There’d be other workers who live here. But what would the impact be to Palisade this if like the H-2A program was changed or eliminated?
Iriana: Well, I hope this program stays intact because we all depend on it. Not just growers, but the town. Like you could probably feel and see that whenever the harvest system is over, everything pretty much goes dormant. And, and so that’s how important it is. It is for the sake not just of the growers, but for everyone around this town because, and I would say the county because the economy of this area relies heavily on the agriculture. And so it is a very important thing that everyone should be taking care of and supporting.
Lisa: So how can anybody in the community who wants to get involved to help. Like what’s the best way for people to help support your mission?
Iriana: Supporting La Plaza, there’s many different ways to do it. So one way to support La Plaza is through donations. There is a site on our website, laplazapalisade.org. People can donate money through the website. Another way to support La Plaza is coming in and volunteering for us. Whether it is to help make tamales or helping the food pantry make sure the pantry is organized, clean and stock. We have what we call resource dinners during the harvest season and this is pretty much an open house. So we we have a chef volunteer that is pretty much the head of the kitchen and we love her dearly because she’s the person who actually makes the tamales, the fundraising with the tamales happen.
Lisa: Give a shout out to Chef Lynn.
Iriana: Yeah, shout out Lynn. So she makes these dinners happen too. And we feed anywhere in between 50 to 80 people at a time. And this dinners take place once a month starting in April all the way until September. And this is a very fun and enjoyable way to come to La Plaza and see La Plaza in action. Like we love our resource dinners because it feels like a party even though it is not. It’s an activity where agencies of the town that provide with other services that we don’t have. They come and present themselves in a very casual way. Very like, you know, in a very comfortable setting. Sharing a meal and having a very casual conversation over a meal about what they do and what services they provide and they can connect directly with the clients or potential clients to provide these services. And it’s just fun. It’s, it’s nice. They come many of the times the workers come right after they finish their journey and it’s nice for them to provide a very delicious dinner made by a chef. I mean it’s gourmet. It’s a gourmet meal. You know, like it’s a way to pamper them too somehow, and giving back a little bit of thank you. It’s a way to say thank you pretty much too.
Lisa: And if there’s anything specific thing because I know a lot of the times people ask, oh I have this to drop off or do you need a bike or do you need so and so.
Iriana: Well, many times we put notifications out and this usually happens through Facebook. And by the way, we have two Facebook pages. One is called La Plaza Staff and the other one is called La Plaza Palisade. And through Facebook we make notes sometimes or flyer sometimes whenever someone comes and say, I need to borrow a wheelchair. Things like that. So we get random requests at times and like for example, like a couple of weeks ago we put a notification out because there was a family who was transitioning from the Pathway shelter, family shelter to a house. And so it’s a family that had nothing. And so they came to us saying, do you think you guys can help us getting mattresses? These things or. The list was long. And we’re like, okay, we can give you some vouchers so you can get some stuff from the thrift store next door to us. And then the rest, big things like mattresses and stuff like that. We could put a notification so whomever has a spare mattress that can give to you guys. Then we just connect them that way.
Lisa: Is that usually on the La Plaza staff page or is it. Or could it be in both?
Iriana: It could be in both. We try to post on both sites. We’re still working on our how to manage all our social media stuff.
Lisa: Oh yeah, that’s like an ongoing thing.
Iriana: It’s getting better, but we’re still working on it. Since the rebranding we are still in a very growing process or journey in terms of taking care of immigrants. Like I said, the migrants are the core of La Plaza. But we need to think also around the other immigrants that live in the valley and that bring value to different industries. The hospitality industry, housekeepers, people that work in Airbnbs, motels, hotels. The construction industry relies heavily on immigrant labor. People doing roofing, cement. These kind of jobs are done by immigrants.
Lisa: And there’s a huge demand, growing demand for all of that, all of those services in the Grand Valley.
Iriana: This town is growing. Not just Palisade, but in Mesa County, Grand Junction. It’s growing faster than what we can grasp, I think and that what we can think of. So I don’t think that people, many people see Grand Junction like a small town or a big town. It is not a town anymore. It’s a city. And, hopefully we can all merge happily with knowing that growth brings diversity and that there is that diversity makes everything better, enriches everything, because it’s what brings all the nuances and all the different colors and foods and opportunities and all kinds of goodies, good things comes with, diversity. So hopefully everyone in this area embraces and gets encouraged with the growth that we’re having, because I don’t think it’s going to stop. And so we are, and we as La Plaza, we want to be the beam of light and guidance for every immigrant in the valley. And really anyone that can come and that wants to come and join us in this journey, we’re happy, we’re welcoming, we have our arms open to anybody that want to be part of us and our mission.
Lisa: Yeah. And I can personally attest to that too. Thank you so much for being here with me today and sharing the information. And I’m just looking forward to seeing you grow and seeing what else you have, what else you do with La Plaza, because I think it’s going to be really exciting.
Iriana: Yeah, we’re excited. I am very excited. I’m very happy too, where we’re at right now, despite everything, you know, it’s. I mean, there’s always gonna be shitty things happening. So you just need to focus and pivot towards what is good for the community and for yourself. Because there’s always gonna be antagonists that are gonna. Party poopers.
Lisa: I love that. And it’s so true. It’s so true.
Iriana: thanks.
Lisa: Here’s another way you can easily support La Plaza – this Saturday, April 26, Peach Street Distillery is hosting a nonprofit day, where 10% of their bar sales for the day will be donated to La Plaza.
There’s a question that Iriana poses on La Plaza’s website: “If the fruits and vegetables that we eat are a tribute of dedication and love, can we return this into tribute of grateful gratitude to those working in the American fields?” https://www.laplazapalisade.org/articles
In the Palisade of the past, there must have always been those who weren’t happy about the presence of “outsiders” in their community, but the impression that has made its way into our shared history and that is remembered today is one of gratitude. I can only assume that today’s workers will be viewed in the same way by those looking back in the future. But we can’t appreciate what we don’t know. So if you want to know more, get in touch with the awesome people at La Plaza.
The podcast’s theme music is Riverbend by Geoff Roper.
Thanks for listening. With love (and gratitude), from Palisade.