WASHINGTON, DC - At a press conference on Capitol Hill, Actor and Activist Eva Longoria joined Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34) and other child advocates today in announcing the introduction of "The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment" (CARE), legislation which ensures adequate protections for children working in our nation’s agricultural fields.

“Agriculture is the only industry governed by labor laws that allow children as young as 12 to work with virtually no restrictions on the number of hours they spend in the fields outside of the school day,” Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard said. “Tragically, unable to keep up with the competing demands of long work hours in the fields and school, a recent report found that child farmworkers drop out of school at four times the national dropout rate – slamming the door shut on the very pathway that could one day help them escape a lifetime of unrelenting work harvesting our crops. I simply do not believe that our child labor laws reflect how we as Americans value our children.”

Exposing the hardships of child farmworkers, THE HARVEST/LA COSECHA, a new film by Shine Global, U. Roberto Romano and Executive Producer Eva Longoria, examines the day-to-day lives of child migrant laborers. The film focuses on three Latino youths, ages 12, 14 and 16, who are among the estimated 400,000 children who work as migrant laborers on America’s farms.

“I applaud Eva Longoria, Robin Romano and Shine Global for using the power of film to expose the plight of child farmworkers in The Harvest/La Cosecha. As this film documents, children in agriculture too often work in dangerous and exploitive conditions, which are illegal in every other industry,” Congresswoman Roybal-Allard said. Eva Longoria said, “I want to commend Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard for ...