In Washington state farmers paid on average about $200 per day in labor costs including wages and benefits. The same workers when working Mexican farms are paid the minimum wage of $11 per day. The nearly twenty times difference in pay translates into a much improved ability to provide for their families, such as the ability to purchase homes as the workers themselves report. By pressuring farmers and lawmakers against the guest worker program, activists are reducing these very valuable income opportunities for these workers whose options are limited.
