The loss of Kent Wong and the future of labor and immigrant rights in California

When Kent Wong died Oct. 8, labor and immigrant rights leaders across the country mourned the loss of a giant. For decades, Wong’s calm presence and iron will spurred significant advances in protections for immigrants and workers, especially those who were undocumented.

In Los Angeles, where the activist, organizer and educator was born and lived, the sense of grief among Wong’s friends and his longtime colleagues has been palpable. But the immigrant and labor movements also are wrestling with a different issue: What will happen to the myriad projects throughout California of which Wong was such a driving force?

“I worry about what the future’s going to be like without him,” said David Sickler, the former longtime regional director of the AFL-CIO, who was among the earliest organizers of immigrant labor in Los Angeles in the late 1980s and worked extensively with Wong on the issue over the ensuing years. Noting such Wong-led efforts as UCLA’s Dream Resource Center to support undocumented youth, Sickler added, “I am concerned for the many movements that he’s been a part of.”

By one friend’s count, Wong was actively involved in 14 different labor- and immigrant-related projects when he died at 69 from cardiopulmonary failure. Among his most recent achievements was guiding and supporting the 2023 creation of new labor research centers at five University of California campuses : UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside and UC San Diego. Those join existing labor research facilities at UC Merced, UC Berkeley and Wong’s longtime professional home, the UCLA Labor Center.