Javier Rojo is the New Mexico Fellow at the institute for Policy Studies. He recently completed his undergraduate degree at University of New Mexico where he studied Economics, Philosophy and Statistics. As a student, he conducted research on Mexico’s drug war and co-founded the Latin America Sustainability Association.
The people who wash your dishes and the folks who cook and serve your food deserve better.
by Javier Rojo
When my father immigrated to the United States from Mexico in the mid-1980s, his first job was washing dishes at a Furr’s Fresh Buffet restaurant in New Mexico. It paid the state-mandated minimum wage of $2.90 per hour. My father sent a portion of his scant earnings back to his parents and younger siblings in Mexico. Whatever money he had left, he used to make ends meet. Every day was a struggle.