In the years following NAFTA migrant labor from south Mexico, the vast majority of them indigenous farmers who had lost their livelihood, were pouring into the fields of California (as I’m sure all sorts of agricultural centers around America) b/c the American agricultural industry buried small farmers in Mexico via NAFTA. We pick up the debate in the 2000's when the hope of immigration reform was to 1) slow down the migration to the US and 2) give those who had been working in our fields and whose livelihoods had been destroyed by American corn agribusiness a path to citizenship. Bernie supported the first part (as did pretty much everybody except for large American agribusiness). However, he was so opposed to NAFTA that he worked alongside white ethno-nationalists (who also were also very opposed to NAFTA and free trade in general) to ensure that comprehensive immigration reform was killed. This is where Dolores Huerta took up arms against Bernie and why their feud spilled into the past election.
Bernie’s position began to change around 2008 when he went to see the tomato workers of Florida. Now it has evolved to the point where he actually was for comprehensive immigration reform in 2013. But by that point the chance to get reform was over. Millions of people here in California are now getting screwed. Yes, it’s not only b/c of Bernie. But certainly b/c of his rigid ideology of the 2000's at least in part. Every family that gets rounded up here that easily could and should have been citizens by now is a testament to his failure at a key moment. And yes, at that time, Bernie’s calculations were very much driven by a narrow vision of labor in America as working white class only.
Receipts. When it comes to Bernie's legacy their aren't many and most are negative. I just don't get him.
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