Los Angeles unveils nearly 20-foot-tall statue honoring Mexican migrant workers

The city of Los Angeles unveiled a nearly 20-foot-tall statue in its downtown area over the weekend as an ode to Mexican migrant workers known as braceros.

The bronze 19-foot-tall sculpture, unveiled Sunday near Los Angeles’s historic Olvera Street, is the first monument of its kind to honor the group of workers, according to CNN.

“Their story hasn’t been told,” Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar told the news outlet.

{mosads}”My father was a bracero. All my uncles were braceros. And they tell me many stories of the time they would come. They tell me about the sacrifices they made, sometimes they would go without water during the day, the barracks they put them in, terrible barracks, the living conditions were horrible,” he said.

“But despite these sacrifices, they were appreciative of the opportunity, because they were able to get a little money, (and) send it back to their families,” Huizar added.

CNN notes the term braceros comes from the millions of workers who came to the states from Mexico under a government program that was created in 1942 by executive order to provide extra workers during World World II-era labor shortages. The program reportedly ended in 1964.

Dan Medina, the artist who was commissioned to create the statue of a father standing beside his wife and child with a garden hoe in hand and a pickaxe at his feet, told CNN creating the work was personal to him.

“My stepfather, who pretty much raised me and taught me the work ethic and everything I am today, he was a bracero,” Medina said.

Huizar, who helped lead the project and secure community support, says plans for the statue originated before President Trump took office, but the president’s rhetoric and policies on immigration give the statue new salience.

“We’re now sending a message, despite what the President’s doing, we’re moving forward. You can have your rhetoric that is anti-immigrant, that is counter to what the city of Los Angeles believes in,” he said. “We’re moving forward as a city of immigrants, proud of our roots.”