For decades, civil rights leader Cesar Chavez represented honor and dignity, a symbol of hope and resilience for many in the Latino, immigrant and labor communities.
Although Chavez had his share of critics, including for what some viewed as an anti-immigrant stance, for those who grew up in households where the man was held in high regard, they were proud to have him represent their communities.
But the bombshell allegations that have surfaced in recent days — claims that Chavez sexually assaulted two underage girls in the 1970s and raped fellow labor rights advocate Dolores Huerta, with whom Chavez co-founded the United Farm Workers union — have shattered this image of a hero for many who revered him.
Farmworkers harvest near Fillmore on Friday, March 20, 2026. At a time when many Latinos, immigrants and farm workers still feel targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Cesar Chavez’s fall from grace adds a further blow to communities already demoralized by the federal immigration enforcement actions. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
FILE – United Farm Workers President Cesar Chavez talks to striking Salinas Valley farmworkers during a large rally in Salinas, Calif., on March 7, 1979. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
Because of the onslaught of violence and racism that Latinos are enduring right now,” said Carlos Perea, founding director of the Harbor Institute for Immigrant and Economic Justice. “The mask is completely off for our immigration system.” Perea is just one face amidst countless who’ve mobilized around the county and across the nation for immigrant rights. It has not been an easy endeavor, he said. And Perea has no illusions about what’s at stake. Perea, himself, was not documented until a year ago. (File photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Farmworkers harvest near Fillmore on Friday, March 20, 2026. At a time when many Latinos, immigrants and farm workers still feel targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Cesar Chavez’s fall from grace adds a further blow to communities already demoralized by the federal immigration enforcement actions. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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Farmworkers harvest near Fillmore on Friday, March 20, 2026. At a time when many Latinos, immigrants and farm workers still feel targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Cesar Chavez’s fall from grace adds a further blow to communities already demoralized by the federal immigration enforcement actions. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
And at a time when many Latinos, immigrants and farmworkers feel targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, Chavez’s fall from grace feels like a further blow.
It’s been a “heavy year” for Latino and immigrant families, many of whom are “already carrying fear and uncertainty because of ICE raids and ongoing attacks,” said Luz Gallegos, executive director of TODEC Legal Center, a nonprofit that provides resources to immigrant workers across the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley.
“To now also sit with these revelations is painful,” she said Friday. “It brings up grief, pain and a sense of betrayal for many.
“But,” Gallegos continued, “we have to be clear about something: Our community’s strength has never come from any one individual. It has always come from ‘nuestro pueblo,’ the people and those people are farmworkers, immigrants, women and families who organized, resisted and demanded dignity together.”
That labor and other civil rights movements are larger than any one person is a sentiment that’s been echoed across Southern California since news broke about Chavez’s alleged abuse.
Manuel Pastor, director of the USC Dornsife Equity Research Institute, first met Chavez as a student organizer for UFW while in college. He recounted how he and his peers felt they were “in the presence of a saint, of someone who had exhibited moral steadfastness and courage and had struggled for justice.”
But as he learned more about Chavez, including reports that the labor leader became more controlling later in life, Pastor stopped putting him on a pedestal.
Still, Pastor recognized that the recent revelations about the labor leader will hit hard for some.
“It’s a blow to be sure, particularly because Cesar Chavez was iconic, taught in schools, part of the celebrated history,” said Pastor, a professor of sociology and American studies and ethnicity.
Society must be honest about the pain Chavez caused and understand that “movements are more than just individuals and that groups are what move history,” he said.
At the same time, Pastor warned of other implications that could stem from the shocking revelations: “It will be weaponized by the right wing that will seek to say, ‘See, this supposed leader for civil rights was flawed,’” he said.
Then again, he added, “They will weaponize anything.”
For civil rights attorney Sonja Diaz, the founder of Unseen, a nonprofit project described as “amplifying the policy needs of Americans hidden in plain sight,” the Chavez revelations may present a challenge for immigrants or those advocating for improved working conditions.
“The timing of this news is under a federal administration that has criminalized immigrants, has taken away legal status for those that are here lawfully or trying to adjust their status and has also sought to reduce the voice of workers in ensuring that they have basic dignity and safety on the job,” said Diaz, who is co-founder emeritus of the UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute.
“Unless leaders with decision-making rights solve for the very real concerns that farmworkers and many other aligned workers have been fighting for, we’re at a loss,” Diaz added.
Although many civic leaders and elected officials have said they were saddened by the New York Times report about Chavez’s alleged predatory behavior, others weren’t surprised to hear that the labor leader was imperfect.
Carlos Perea, founding director of the Harbor Institute for Immigrant and Economic Justice in Orange County, said his organization already had concerns about Chavez “because of his anti-immigration views” even before the sexual abuse allegations.
Chavez was known to oppose undocumented immigrants, viewing them as a potential threat to farm workers’ jobs and their fight for better wages. He reportedly launched a campaign to prevent illegal border crossings into the U.S.
Now, the latest allegations about Chavez further mean “a lot to unpack for the Latino community,” Perea said, adding, “there’s a lot to grapple with in terms of the silence and the harm that was done to these women, these young women.”
The revelations about Chavez come after a year of fervent activism by local groups and community members pushing for immigrant rights amid an “onslaught of violence and racism that Latinos are enduring right now,” he said.
But at the heart of the farmworkers movement, and the efforts of local activists and community members pushing for immigrant rights, Perea said, is courage.
It’s this courage and fighting spirit that many of those interviewed for this story spoke of.
Pastor, the USC professor, said Latinos have advanced politically and economically over the decades, and despite one iconic Latino leader having his reputation tarnished, he remains optimistic that the community will move forward.
“This is a resilient community that will find a path forward,” he said.
To be sure, he said, sexism and sexual assault in the Latino community should not be taken lightly, and this should be a moment of honest examination and reckoning.
“But,” he added, “is it a permanent setback” for Latinos? “I don’t think so.”
Staff writer Madison Hart contributed to this report.