Support CRLAF Today!

California is home to nearly 885,000 farmworkers, the majority of whom are undocumented. Farmworkers, low-wage workers, undocumented individuals, and mixed-status families experience wage theft and exploitation, regular violations of their civil and labor rights, environmental injustices in their communities, and threats of unlawful deportation, all while lacking meaningful access to counsel. 

These communities are concentrated in “legal deserts.” While California’s overall attorney-to-population ratio in urban areas is estimated to be 1:175, in rural areas it averages 1:626. These “legal deserts” are structural barriers to justice.  

The California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (CRLAF) was established in 1981 to respond to these challenges and to overcome restrictive federal funding policies which excluded undocumented immigrants from accessing pro bono legal services, prohibited class action impact litigation, and barred legislative advocacy and lobbying. 

Since then, CRLAF has become a statewide leader in public policy development, technical assistance, and community outreach and education on issues facing farmworkers, the rural poor, and immigrants. We also bring impact litigation and offer immigration legal services to ensure that community members have the quality legal support to experience justice. CRLAF stands as the backbone for access to legal justice for these underserved and underrepresented communities that are increasingly targeted by brutal and rapidly changing federal discriminatory policies tearing families apart and destroying livelihoods.

Farmworkers are more than the fruits of their labour. They are the mothers who endure, create, and craft. They are the fathers, mother, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters who work from dusk till dawn, coming home with humour intact— carrying joy, light, and dreams despite the pain in their back. They are the little boys and girls exploring, learning, and developing their sense and place in the world around them. 

CRLAF stands proud of our 45 years of service to our clients, communities, and partners with our commitment to farmworker justice firm and unwavering. 

Please donate to the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation today and join us in creating justice. 

¡Juntos podemos hacerlo!