AFOP Observes César Chávez Day

AFOP

March 15, 2026

On March 31, the nation honors the birthday of César Chávez, whose lifelong commitment to dignity, fairness, and justice transformed the lives of farmworkers across the United States. Alongside fellow civil rights and labor activist Dolores Huerta, Chávez helped build a powerful movement that amplified the voices of those who harvest our country’s food and inspired generations to continue the fight for safe working conditions, fair wages, and respect for farmworker communities.  At AFOP, we celebrate his legacy by reaffirming our commitment to supporting and empowering farmworkers and their families every day.

Celebrate NFAW With Us!

March 12, 2026

National Farmworker Awareness Week (NFAW) is a nationwide week of action dedicated to educating, mobilizing, and inspiring communities to recognize farmworkers and honor their essential contributions to our food system and daily lives. During NFAW, AFOP and its partners will host AFOP’s annual National Long-Sleeve Shirt Drive from March 23–31, 2026. This initiative provides protective long-sleeve shirts to farmworkers who face prolonged sun and pesticide exposure and hazardous working conditions.  

Since 2014, AFOP and its partners have mobilized communities across the country to collect 148,632 long-sleeve shirts, providing farmworkers with essential protection from pesticide exposure, harmful UV rays, and the rigors of long hours under the sun. By joining this effort, you can help keep farmworkers safe, protected, and supported as they carry out the vital work that sustains our nation’s food supply.  Together, we can transform awareness into action—supporting farmworker health, showing gratitude, and strengthening the communities that feed us all.

AFOP Board Members Educating Key Lawmaker

February 5, 2026

AFOP board members today met with the House Appropriations ranking minority member, Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut), to brief her on the success and importance of NFJP and the continuing need for the highly effective program. Ranking minority member DeLauro said that she supports NFJP and that she will always fight to preserve the program.  Joining Congresswoman DeLauro were AFOP President Clevon Young, AFOP Vice President Kari Hogan, and AFOP Executive Committee at-large member Martín Campos-Davis.  

AFOP Educates House Education and Workforce Chair on NFJP Successes

AFOP

March 16, 2026

AFOP leadership last week took the opportunity to brief House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Tim Walberg (R-Michigan-5) during his swing through the American Southwest.  At the meeting, Chair Walberg seemed to indicate that he plans to move a Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) reauthorization bill sometime this year, so it was extremely important for AFOP to take advantage of this opportunity to educate him again on the success of and continuing need for the National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP).  Additionally, he will still be in a position to help NFJP next year even if this November’s federal elections result in a change in majority control of the House of Representatives in 2027.

Maira Vasquez to Receive “Kind & Generous Award” from The Foundation for Farmworkers

AFOP

February 12, 2026

Maira Vasquez from Proteus, Inc., Indiana, is the well-deserving recipient of the 2026 “Kind and Generous Award.”

The Foundation for Farmworkers, a DC-based farmworker advocacy organization, awards this honor each year to one commendable individual for their “supreme acts of kindness and generosity to the community of farmworkers we serve.”  

The Grow Early Learning Team in Indiana recommended Maira for the award because of providing critical support to a farmworker family after its mother and wife was wrongfully detained.  “Maira never hesitates to step in when a family is struggling,” the team said, “whether that means delivering resources directly to worksite, advocating for parents during a crisis, or ensuring children receive needed services and smooth educational transitions.”

Maira’s supervisor and Indiana program director, Randall Collins, commended her for the award, saying, “I am incredibly proud of Maira and grateful for the compassion and dedication she shows every day to farmworker families in Indiana. Her willingness to go beyond what is expected, standing with families during some of their most difficult moments, reflects the heart of our mission at Proteus and her kindness.”

Congratulations, Maira!

Proteus Celebrates Job Training Graduates

Proteus, Inc., CA

March 2, 2026

February was a month of celebration and achievement as the William M. Maguy School of Education recognized two graduating classes, each marking an important step forward for participants pursuing new career pathways.

The first ceremony, held February 5 at the Proteus, Inc. Administration Office, honored the program’s second Truck Driving class. All ten students successfully completed training and passed their Class A licensing exams, officially qualifying them to enter the workforce as professional drivers.  Staff members were present to cheer on their customers, five of whom they had personally referred to the program, demonstrating the impact of encouragement, mentorship, and ongoing support.

Later in the month, on February 17, the spotlight turned to graduates of the SEED Program (Sustainable Energy Efficiency Development), whose ceremony took place at a training facility hosted by Southern California Edison. As a founding partner of the SEED Program, it was especially meaningful to celebrate this milestone at one of their sites, highlighting the strong collaboration that helps make these career training opportunities possible.

INSIDE USDOL

USDOL Releases Artificial Intelligence Literacy Framework

USDOL

February 13, 2026

DOL announces the release of its AI Literacy Framework, which provides voluntary guidance to support the evaluation of high-quality AI literacy content and its effective integration into education and workforce systems, to help accelerate AI skill development for American youth, students, faculty and teachers, job seekers, and workers across the country. The framework defines AI literacy, offers considerations for the various audiences of the framework, requests feedback from users as the framework evolves, and provides details and examples for each of the foundational content areas and delivery principles. The framework also incorporates strategies for addressing prerequisites to AI literacy, such as digital literacy skills.

USDOL Directs States to Update State Plans by April 30, 2026

AFOP

February 3, 2026

State governors may submit the two-year modification for their unified or combined state plan as late as April 30, 2026, if they applied for an extension by March 3, 2026.  According to USDOL’s press release on January 26, the Departments of Labor and Education are providing this flexibility to encourage states to “align their strategies with America’s Talent Strategy,  the Trump Administration’s blueprint for transforming the federal government’s approach to workforce development.”

AFOP urges NFJP grantees to get in touch with their State Monitor Advocate and ensure that the Agricultural Outreach Plan portion of the modified State plan includes their NFJP comments.

United States Representative Burgess Owens (R-Utah), chairman of the House Education and Workforce panel with jurisdiction over the National Farmworker Jobs Program and its authorizing law, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, announced on March 4, 2026, that he will retire from Congress at the end of his current term.  The former NFL player, who has served Utah's 4th Congressional District since 2021, will not seek reelection, citing a desire to pursue "the next chapter" of his mission outside of elected office.  AFOP wishes Chairman Owens well in all his future endeavors.

Republicans Urge Labor Department to Scrap OSHA Heat Rule

Politico | AFOP

March 11, 2026

Senate Republicans led by Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) are calling on Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer to scrap a Biden-era heat standard aimed at providing workers with rest and water breaks.

"Protecting workers from a common and easily understandable workplace hazard does not require a prescriptive rule that will cause confusion and, in several circumstances, may even undermine worker safety," Cassidy and 15 Republicans wrote Wednesday in a letter to Chavez-DeRemer.  "Workers and businesses thrive when there are clear standards that are flexible, understandable, and pragmatic."

In January 2025, key Democratic lawmakers wrote the opposite letter to OSHA, urging the agency not to repeal the heat rule and naming a number of people who were killed on the job by extreme heat.  

In June 2025, the Scientific American reported that the entire team of federal regulators who wrote that rule was laid off in one of Trump’s infamous “personnel purges,” making it easier to repeal the rule.

New work requirements written into Trump’s sweeping new domestic policy law – dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” – could cause millions of Americans to lose their access to food stamps starting this month.  Though Congress passed the bill in November, a three-month grace period built into the program has pushed off the effective date until February/March.  

The New York Times predicts that thousands more people will start lining up at soup kitchens in New York City, where living costs are so high, they push fully a third of its residents into poverty.  According to the Times, “an estimated 10 percent of households on SNAP in the city could have their benefits eliminated or reduced, representing a devastating blow to low-income families as well as the markets where they shop.”

AFOP members should consider SNAP’s new work requirements when working with SNAP recipients or advising participants who express interest in the program.  Keep in mind that participation in NFJP could count towards the new work requirements, though this flexibility varies by state.  For more information, contact your partners on the State Workforce Development Board or reach out to your State Monitor Advocate or Federal Project Officer.

The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service is updating its guidance around SNAP work requirements.  Bookmark this page for more information as it becomes available.

Is it Safe to Your File Taxes?

NILC

February 25, 2026

For decades, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) promised immigrant taxpayers that their information would not be used for immigration enforcement. But in July 2025, the IRS for the first time ever agreed to share the addresses of immigrant taxpayers.  

This raises the question:  Can immigration enforcement now access information on all tax returns?  Is it no longer safe for immigrants to file their taxes?

To answer these questions, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and UnidosUS wrote a FAQ for those helping immigrant families file their taxes.  This resource and others will soon be released in Spanish.

DHS Admits to Congress They Have Detained Hundreds of DACA Recipients, Deported Dozens

United We Dream

February 26, 2026

In a response to a letter from U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) admitted that in less than a year, ICE detained 261 DACA recipients. That same letter details the deportation of 86 DACA recipients, despite the protections from detention and deportation that the DACA program affords.

This latest groundbreaking news comes while the DACA program is still being actively attacked in courts, with efforts in Texas to sever DACA recipients’ access to work permits. This latest information is the first admission through government data of the alarming rise in DACA recipients with valid status being targeted and detained by federal immigration agents from ICE and CBP across the country. It also comes while the federal government continues to pressure DACA recipients to self-deport.

WHAT WE’RE READING

Rachel Woolf for The New York Times

To Address Farm Labor Shortage, Trump Administration Turns to Migrant Workers

New York Times

March 15, 2026

For years, the agricultural sector has faced a tight labor market as farmworkers age and fewer new immigrants and younger Americans are willing to toil in the fields. Top Trump administration officials vowed that mass deportations would help, leading to “higher wages with better benefits” and a “100 percent American work force.”

But the administration has quietly acknowledged in recent months that its immigration raids and crackdown on the border have aggravated the issue. So it has instead turned to an alternative source, making it cheaper for farmers to hire immigrant farmworkers on temporary visas.

Many farmers have celebrated those changes, made to an increasingly popular visa program known as H-2A, noting the difficulty in hiring American workers and tough economic conditions for the industry. But immigration hawks and labor unions alike are opposed, arguing the move will only increase the share of foreign workers and hurt native workers and suppress their wages.

Philip Martin, a farm labor economist and professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis, said he was skeptical of the administration’s claims of an impending mass shortage in agricultural labor. Whatever the justification, he noted the moves would not increase the number of American workers in agriculture.

“It’s a basic economic point,” he said, adding, “If you have a shortage of something like energy — gas and oil — you raise the price to give people an incentive to go out and find more, right?”

Reducing wages, he said, will instead mean that American farmers will rely increasingly on mechanization, guest farmworkers and food imports.