Immokalee

Ty Joplin of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers said transportation laws for farmworkers are often unenforced.

The campaign, announced Thursday, is in partnership with: The Open Markets Institute, a non-profit monopoly watchdog supported by Senators Cory Booker and John Tester; The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, supporting the rights of farmworkers; And FoodFight USA, the nonpartisan movement started by entrepreneurs Todd Wagner and Lori McCreary with a goal of “cleaning up” the American food supply which they estimate is 70% ultra-processed foods.

IMMOKALEE, Fla. — Across Florida on Thursday, workers didn’t show up at construction sites and tomato fields and scores of restaurants, shops and other small businesses never opened their doors to protest a new state law that imposes restrictions on undocumented immigrants.

In Immokalee, an area in southwest Florida known for its tomato fields, hundreds of protesters, many with families, marched two miles around the town, chanting and carrying signs.

According to the Florida-based Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which organized the march, the program has ensured that farmworkers are paid for the hours they work; guaranteed them on-the-job safety measures such as shade, water and access to bathrooms; and has reduced the threats of sexual assault, harassment and forced labor under armed guards in the fields where tomatoes and other crops are harvested.