Cesar Chavez was against illegal alien labor, which undermines UFW strike campaigns and leads to a number of controversial events, which the UFW describes as anti-strikebreaking events, and undermines U.S. workers! Further, César Chávez was a critic of La Raza, stating to Peter Matthiessen of The New Yorker, ““I hear more and more Mexicans talking about la raza—to build up their pride. Some people don’t look at it as racism, but when you say ‘La Raza,’ you are saying an anti-gringo thing, and it won’t stop there. Today it’s anti-gringo, tomorrow it will be anti-Negro. We had a stupid guy who just wanted to play politics with the union, and he began to whip up La Raza against the white volunteers, and even had some of the farm workers and the pickets and the organizers hung up on La Raza. So I took him on. These things have to be met head on. On discrimination, I don’t even give the members the privilege of a vote, and I’m not ashamed of it. No, the whole business of discrimination can’t exist here. So often, these days, the leaders are afraid, and even though they feel strongly against racism, they will not speak out against it. If the leadership is united, then it can say, ‘All right, if you’re going to do things that way, then you’ll have to get rid of us.’ You have to speak out immediately, the first time.”[1]

Chávez friend and UFW staffer LeRoy Chatfield[2] stated, “”That’s one of the reasons (Chávez) is so upset about La Raza. The same Mexicans that ten years ago were talking about themselves as Spaniards are coming on real strong these days as Mexicans. Everyone should be proud of what they are, of course, but race is only skin-deep. It’s phony and it comes out of frustration; the la raza people are not secure. They look upon Cesar as their ‘dumb Mexican’ leader; he’s become their saint. But he doesn’t want any part of it. He said to me just the other day, ‘Can’t they understand that that’s just the way Hitler started?’ A few months ago the Ford Foundation funded a la raza group and Cesar really told them off. The foundation liked the outfit’s sense of pride or something, and Cesar tried to explain to them what the origin of the word was, that it’s related to Hitler’s concept.”[3]

Richard Garcia quotes Chavez as stating, “La Raza? Why be racist? Our belief is to help everyone, not just one race. Humanity is our belief.” and noted Stan Steiner[4] as observing that when Chavez told Chicanos this, “their faces fell” in disbelief. They had thought he was a nationalist, not a humanist.”[1][5][6]

Some critics, such as conservative talk radio host George Putnam, call NCLR exclusionary in its approach to civil rights.[7] Republican congressman Charlie Norwood of Georgia’s ninth district criticized congressional earmarking of four million dollars for NCLR housing initiatives.[8] Anti-illegal immigration websites, such as American Patrol, and anti-immigration websites, such as The American Resistance, accuse NCLR of encouraging illegal immigration to the United States.[9] Former Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) referred to the group as the “Latino KKK”.[10]

Chavez’s On Immigration
The UFW during Chavez’s tenure was committed to restricting immigration. Chavez and Dolores Huerta, cofounder and president of the UFW, fought the Bracero Program that existed from 1942 to 1964. Their opposition stemmed from their belief that the program undermined U.S. workers and exploited the migrant workers. Since the Bracero Program ensured a constant supply of cheap immigrant labor for growers, immigrants could not protest any infringement of their rights, lest they be fired and replaced. Their efforts contributed to Congress ending the Bracero Program in 1964. In 1973, the UFW was one of the first labor unions to oppose proposed employer sanctions that would have prohibited hiring illegal aliens. Later during the 1980s, while Chavez was still working alongside Huerta, he was key in getting the amnesty provisions into the 1986 federal immigration act.[11]

On a few occasions, concerns that illegal alien labor would undermine UFW strike campaigns led to a number of controversial events, which the UFW describes as anti-strikebreaking events, but which have also been interpreted as being anti-immigrant. In 1969, Chavez and members of the UFW marched through the Imperial and Coachella Valleys to the border of Mexico to protest growers’ use of illegal aliens as strikebreakers. Joining him on the march were Reverend Ralph Abernathy and U.S. Senator Walter Mondale.[12] In its early years, the UFW and Chavez went so far as to report illegal aliens who served as strikebreaking replacement workers (as well as those who refused to unionize) to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.[13][14][15][16][17]

In 1973, the United Farm Workers set up a “wet line” along the United States-Mexico border to prevent Mexican immigrants from entering the United States illegally and potentially undermining the UFW’s unionization efforts.[18] During one such event, in which Chavez was not involved, some UFW members, under the guidance of Chavez’s cousin Manuel, physically attacked the strikebreakers after peaceful attempts to persuade them not to cross the border failed.[19][20][21]

The Ford Foundation hired Herman Gallegos, Julian Samora, and Ernesto Galarza to travel the Southwest and make a recommendation on how the Ford Foundation could help Mexican Americans.[22]

Gallegos, Samora and Galarza founded the Southwest Council of La Raza (SWCLR) in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1968. SWCLR was given financial support from the Ford Foundation, the National Council of Churches, and the United Auto Workers, and the organization received 501(c)(3) status later that year.[23]

In 1973, the SWCLR became a national organization, changed its name to the National Council of La Raza, and moved its headquarters to Washington, D.C. Early disagreements among the organization’s leadership caused the Ford Foundation to threaten to withhold funding, resulting in President Henry Santiestevan’s resignation and the election of Raul Yzaguirre.[24]

The Spanish word raza is often translated into English as race.[25] However, the phrase La Raza has a particular history in the context of political activism in which NCLR uses it. NCLR uses “La Raza” to refer to “the people” or “the Hispanic people of the New World.”[26]

Beginning in about 1975, the NCLR began expanding its focus to include the issues of non-Mexican American Latinos. This policy was made official in 1979. By 1980, the NCLR was funded almost entirely by the federal government.[27]

When the Reagan Administration reduced available federal funding, the NCLR cut back the scale of its operations.[27] As a result, the organization began focusing on national policy and concentrating its efforts in Washington, D.C. After the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, state governments exerted more control over the disbursement of welfare funds, which led to the development of the NCLR’s Field Advocacy Project to influence decisions at the state and local levels.

“I hear more and more Mexicans talking about la raza to build up their pride, you
know,”Chavez told me.“Some people don’t look at it as racism,but when you say‘la raza,’
you are saying an anti-gringo thing,and it won’t stopt here. Today it’s anti-gringo,
tomorrow it will be anti-Negro, and the day after it will be anti-Filipino, anti-Puerto Rican.
And then it will be anti-poor-Mexican, and anti-darker-skinned Mexican. We had a stupid
guy who just wanted to play politics with the union, and he began to whip up la raza against
the white volunteers, and even had some of the farm workers and the pickets and the
organizers hung up on la raza. So I took him on. These things have to be met head on. On
discrimination,I don’t even give the members the privilege of a vote,and I’m not ashamed
of it. No, the whole business of discrimination can’t exist here.So often,these days,the
leaders are afraid, and even though they feel strongly against racism, they will not speak out
against it. If th eleadership is united, then it can say,‘Allright,if you’ regoing to do things
that way,then you’ll have to get rid of us. ’You have to speak out immediately, the first
time. Anyway,this guy was talking to people and saying he didn’t like Filipinos taking over
the union. So a small group came to me and said that a lot of people were very mad
because the Filipinos were coming in. And I really reacted. I said a lot of people would be
mad if Negroes came in, in large numbers like that, and I said they were going to accept the
Filipinos if I had to shove them down their throats. ”Chavez paused, as if surprised at his
own violence.“I told them,“That’s the way I feel.’And so they left. A couple of days later,
they said they wanted a big meeting. And I said,‘O.K.,let’s have a big meeting.’So at the
big meeting they said they wanted to discuss discrimination — in other words, they wanted
to take a vote to discriminate. And I said,‘Over my dead body.There will be no such vote
taken here, and furthermore, before you get rid of the Filipinos you’ll have to get rid of
me.’‘No vote? ’theysaid, and I said, “It can’t be done.Those of you who don’t like it, I
suggest that you get out, because you’re not doing anybody any good. Or,even better, I’ll
get out. I’ll join the Filipinos,and we’ll build a trade union.’ Well, I’d say ninety-five per
cent of the audience stood up and applauded. And this small group felt isolated. The
employers, of course, have used this for years and years—one group set against the other. I
explained this to the audience; and I told them that the Filipinos would be a tremendous
asset—new people, new ideas. That’s what a union is. La raza is a very dangerous concept.
I speak very strongly against it among the chicanos. At this point in the struggle, they respect
me enough so that they don’t emphasize la raza, but as soon as this is over they’ll be against
me, because I make fun of it, and I knock down machismo, too. Oh, I heard a sick, sick
speech by a Mexican the other day. I don’t like to see any man discriminating. But when a Mexican
discriminates — ooh!”He winced.“That really cuts me. As a Mexican-American, I expect more of them
than of anybody else. I love them, and I guess I’d like them to be perfect. [1]

[1] http://www.farmworkermovement.org/essays/essays/MillerArchive/032%20Profile%20Cesar%20Chavez.pdf
[2] https://libraries.ucsd.edu/farmworkermovement/50th-anniversary-documentation-project-1962-1993/leroy-chatfield/[full citation needed]
[3] Matthiessen, Peter (2014). Sal Si Puedes (Escape If You Can): Cesar Chavez and the New American Revolution. University of California Press. p. 179. ISBN 978-0-520-95836-4.
[4] http://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/15/obituaries/stan-steiner-is-dead-at-62-author-consultant-teacher.html[full citation needed]
[5] Steiner, Stan (1970). La raza: the Mexican Americans. New York: Harper. OCLC 1198482.[page needed]
[6] 2010 – César Chávez (The Ilan Stavans Library of Latino Civilization) Page 110
[7] Putnam, George (2005-03-11). “One Reporter’s Opinion – The Attorney General and La Raza”. NewsMax. Retrieved 2006-08-25.
[8] Carpenter, Amanda (2005-12-02). “GOP Congress Earmarks $4 Million for Leftist Pro-Illegal Alien Group”. Human Events.
[9] The American Resistance. “Contributors to The National Council of The Race”
[10] Thrush, Glenn (May 28, 2009). “Tancredo: La Raza is “Latino KKK””. Politico. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
[11] “Cesar Chavez and UFW: longtime champions of immigration reform”. United Farm Workers. Retrieved June 18, 2014.
[12] “Obama to Establish National Monument to Cesar Chavez — a Foe of Illegal Immigration”. CBS News.
[13] Gutiérrez, David Gregory (1995). Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants and the Politics of Ethnicity. San Diego: University of California Press. pp. 97–98. ISBN 9780520916869.
[14] Irvine, Reed; Kincaid, Cliff. “Why Journalists Support Illegal Immigration”. Accuracy in the Media. Retrieved June 18, 2014.
[15] Wells, Miriam J. (1996). Strawberry Fields: Politics, Class, and Work in California Agriculture. New York: Cornell University Press. pp. 89–90. ISBN 9780801482793.
[16] Baird, Peter; McCaughan, Ed. Beyond the Border: Mexico & the U.S. Today. North American Congress on Latin America. p. 169. ISBN 9780916024376.
[17] Farmworker Collective Bargaining, 1979: Hearings Before the Committee on Labor Human Resources Hearings held in Salinas, Calif., April 26, 27, and Washington, D.C., May 24, 1979
[18] “PBS Airs Chávez Documentary”, University of California at Davis – Rural Migration News.
[19] Etulain, Richard W. (2002). Cesar Chavez: A Brief Biography with Documents. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 18. ISBN 9780312294274.
[20] Arellano, Gustavo. “The year in Mexican-bashing”. OC Weekly. Retrieved June 18, 2014.
[21] Navarrette, Jr., Ruben (March 30, 2005). “The Arizona Minutemen and César Chávez”. San Diego Union Tribune
[22] Schaefer, Richard (2008). Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society. SAGE Publications. p. 934. ISBN 9781452265865.
[23] Anft, Michael (January 20, 2005). “Giving a Voice to Hispanics”. The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Archived from the original on February 24, 2006. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
[24] “A National Organization”. National Council of La Raza. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
[25] “WordReference.com”. Retrieved 3 June 2106. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
[26] “What does the term ‘La Raza’ mean?”, NCLR FAQs
[27] Martinez, Deirdre (2008). Who Speaks for Hispanics?: Hispanic Interest Groups in Washington. SUNY Press. p. 82. ISBN 9780791493694.