Candlelight vigil to mark 2-year anniversary of Half Moon Bay shooting
HALF MOON BAY, Calif. - Half Moon Bay will hold a candlelight vigil honoring the lives of seven farmworkers who were killed two years ago in a shooting that also revealed the deplorable conditions that many migrant workers were forced to live in.
The backstory:
On Jan 23., 2023, the suspected shooter – 67-year-old farmworker Chunli Zhao – allegedly gunned down the seven workers and injured an eighth at two separate mushroom farms in Half Moon Bay before he was found and arrested by authorities in the parking lot of a San Mateo County Sheriff's Office substation.
The shooting is one of the deadliest in San Mateo County history.
After Zhao's arrest, an investigation into the shootings revealed several of the workers also lived on the farms where they were employed.
Authorities discovered that the workers were made to live in yellow and red-tagged buildings that were deemed unsuitable for occupation, and that they often only had access to drinking water that was filled with bacteria.
The conditions prompted advocates, local task forces and even the governor's office to intervene in an attempt to make improvements and support vulnerable migrant workers.
What they're saying:
Advocates say the migrant farmworker community is especially vulnerable, and the struggles faced by many immigrants are likely to increase under a second Trump Administration.
Trump has already signed a handful of executive orders in an attempt to crack down on illegal immigration, and Half Moon Bay community members were sent a postcard in January urging people to report "illegal aliens" that included the quote, "there's nowhere to hide."
Still, advocates from the nonprofit ALAS Farmworker Program have been working to inform undocumented workers of their rights while still making sure living and working conditions are acceptable.
"It's very important for our community to know they are not alone. That we're standing with them and we're here to work together," said Sandra Sencion, Director of the ALAS Farmworker Program.