Migrant Latino Workers Essay

Ethically, the biggest issue in migrant Latino workers’, rests in the exploit of them by corporations for personal gain and the concealment that follows. Generally, big agricultural corporations perceive migrants as uneducated and skill less. In result, wages are lowered to account for a greater profit at the worker’s expense, leading them into a state of poverty. Viramontes piece proves this describing Estrella “feeding children with noise” in effort to distract the starving children (p. 29) However to promote sales, corporations hide the truth in their development with images displaying healthy and homegrown practices. Hernandez shows this aspect in her Sun Mad artwork, a depiction of the Sun Maid Raisin box. Her cunning presentation of the

The expenditure of the journey, unmet ambitions, and the oppressive system imposed by American society eventually take a psychological toil, deteriorating the confidence of migrant workers. Viramontes illustrates this during Estrella and her family’s visit to the clinic in need of medical care for Alejo. Alejo’s sickness impends Estrella’s family to stretch their funds to pay for his medical expenses. Concurrently, Alejo continuously devalues himself as less than important expressing “I’m not worth it, Star. Not me.” (p. 162) Alejo becomes part of the repressed migrants that have accepted their circumstances. He views himself as worthless and unfit for Estrella’s effort. Only through Estrella demands and violent assertions is Alejo helped. The distress of living in poverty is heavy, especially after surviving the dangers in migrating. Maria’s story from De Nadie, sadly involves her rape after she was robbed. The shame and disgust that followed from the incident is what she carried on her journey. Her anguish and pain is felt after she voiced her wish to be left for dead, explaining that “they killed my happiness”. Furthermore, Maria believed that she couldn’t return to her family anymore, not defiled and broken. Similar to Alejo, a loss of self worth is shown, contributing to the imposed standards and conditions amongst