Bakersfield, Calif. | Oct. 29, 2026, 12:00 a.m. ET | 4 min read

When Cecilia López Mora got news of the passing of iconic labor leader Dolores Huerta early Wednesday, she thought of the higher wages and protections she benefited from when she harvested grapes in the mid-1990s in her hometown of Wasco.

“It’s because of her that I got paid more picking grapes,” she says in Spanish. “Dolores worked in the fields, just like me. She knew what it was like. She helped people like us ... the farmworkers.”

Mrs. López Mora retired earlier this year after more than two decades of working in the grape fields and later in packing houses. She says Mrs. Huerta’s memory gives her hope and strength to continue to fight for herself and others. Particularly at a time of upheaval in U.S. immigration policy that is affecting farm workers along with others. In recent days, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have made arrests and taken people away in her Wasco neighborhood.

Mrs.…