MUSKEGON (Michigan) CHORNICLE

February 14, 2010

Civil rights report to detail conditions for migrant farmworkers in Michigan

By Federico Martinez | Muskegon Chronicle

WEST MICHIGAN — Working and living conditions for the thousands of migrant farmworkers who come to Michigan every year are worse today than they were 40 years ago, according to state civil rights officials who are soon to release a new report on the topic.

The Michigan Civil Rights Commission is expected to publicly review the 1,000-plus-page report during its March 22 meeting in Lansing. The commission initially planned to review the document at its Jan. 25 meeting. The report’s release was postponed to give state government agencies cited in the document a chance to review and respond to it.

Michigan Department of Civil Rights investigators in 2009 conducted a statewide probe of alleged civil rights abuses against migrant farmworkers.

During the January meeting, Mark Wesaw, chairman of the civil rights commission, acknowledged that the report is critical of several state agencies, including State Police and the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth. The already-completed report includes proposed remedies for existing problems, according to Wesaw.

“In my opinion, it’s gotten worse out there in the past 40 years rather than better,” said Wesaw, referring to the overall challenges that migrant farmworkers face in Michigan.

Wesaw and other civil rights commissioners declined to elaborate on what the report says, or provide a copy of it. But they talked in general terms about some of the findings discovered during their investigation.

Civil rights investigators in June 2009 began visiting migrant housing camps and worksites throughout the state. Officials visited Oceana County in July. What they found were several instances where farmworkers were being forced to live in dangerous and unsanitary housing and being taken advantage of, or mistreated by unscrupulous employers, officials at the meeting said.

Investigators at the time also expressed concerns that State Police had set up “checkpoints” along routes frequently used by traveling farmworkers. Some migrant advocates in West Michigan have accused police of racial profiling because it appears they are specifically targeting, and pulling over, Hispanic motorists and demanding proof of citizenship.

In August, the civil rights board met at Grand Valley State University’s Allendale campus. During that meeting, commissioners publicly accused Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth officials of “illegally” attempting to undermine efforts to investigate reported violations of migrant farmworkers’ civil rights. Civil rights investigators charged that DELEG management was prohibiting their employees from talking with them. The civil rights commission at that meeting voted unanimously to begin seeking court-ordered subpoenas to require DELEG employees to answer investigators’ questions about possible farmworker violations.

The commission did not follow up on its subpoena threat. But civil rights officials indicated in January that the problem has not been resolved.

Wesaw and other commissioners said any responses received by state government agencies will be attached to the report, but the responses will not change the findings of the investigation.