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More than 100 people died in Oregon’s historic heatwave last week, including a Marion County farmworker named Sebastian Francisco Perez.
The 38-year-old from Guatemala died after collapsing in a field at Ernst Nursery and Farms near St. Paul.
Prior to the record-breaking hot days, farmworker advocates had urged Oregon Occupational Safety and Health to pass emergency rules they say would have better protected agricultural workers like Perez in extreme heat.
“This is something that we were all aware of and something that could’ve been prevented,” said Elizabeth Heredia, a program coordinator at CAPACES who attended a vigil for Perez.