Newly proposed national park would unite 4 sites honoring labor leader Cesar Chávez

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Farm labor rights leader César E. Chávez (center) marches with United Farm Workers members in Redondo Beach, California, on a trek from the Mexican border to Sacramento on July 9, 1975. Two California politicians have introduced legislation in Congress that would establish the César E. Chávez and the Farmworker Movement National Historical Park. (John Malim, Los Angeles Times via UCLA Library, CC BY)

A proposed piece of federal legislation would create a new national park to honor famed farm labor leader Cesar Chávez.

The bill was introduced Monday during the federal Cesar Chávez Day holiday by U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Indio).

If passed by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed by President Donald Trump, it would create the Cesar E. Chávez and the Farmworker Movement National Historical Park.

The park would incorporate the existing Cesar E. Chávez National Monument, which includes La Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz in Keene, California.

A map shows the boundaries for the proposed Cesar E. Chávez and the Farmworker Movement National Historical Park introduced by U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Raul Ruiz on Monday, March 31, 2025. The proposal would incorporate four separate Chávez historical sites spread across two states and including McDonnell Hall in San Jose. (Office of U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla via Bay City News)

The bill also proposes including include two other sites in California — The Forty Acres in Delano and McDonnell Hall in San Jose — and one in Arizona — the Santa Rita Center in Phoenix.

It would also authorize a study of the “Farmworker Peregrinación National Historic Trail,” the 300-mile march route taken by farm workers between Delano and Sacramento in 1966.

“Establishing the Cesar E. Chávez and the Farmworker Movement National Historical Park would pay proper homage to Cesar Chávez’s tireless work for the dignity, respect, and equal treatment of workers — priorities facing immense threats under the Trump Administration,” Padilla said in a news release Monday.

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