Horrible And Not Very Surprising: Cesar Chavez Accused Of Sexually Abusing Girls In Bombshell Report

(Photo by Cathy Murphy/Getty Images)

Cesar Chavez died in 1993. The late labor leader enjoyed a long three decades in the left’s pantheon of civil rights idols. His name is emblazoned on boulevards and elementary schools across the American Southwest. His birthday, March 31, is a U.S. federal commemorative holiday, courtesy of former President Barack Obama. 

Chavez may soon be stripped of such honors. A years-long New York Times (NYT) investigation published Wednesday found “extensive evidence” that Chavez sexually abused two underage girls in the 1970s. 

Ana Murguia, now 66, said Chavez pulled her into his office, locked the door, “brought her onto the yoga mat that he often used in his office for meditation, kissed her and pulled her pants down.” Chavez was 45, Murguia was 13. Murguia claims the sexual abuse continued for four years. 

Debra Rojas, now 66, told the NYT she was 12 when Chavez “first touched her inappropriately, groping her breasts in the same office where he’d meet with Ms. Murguia.” 

The NYT continues: “When Ms. Rojas was 15, he arranged to have her stay at a motel during a weekslong march through California, she said, and had sexual intercourse with her — rape, under state law, because she was not old enough to consent. (Ms. Murguia said Mr. Chavez molested her but never had intercourse with her.)”

Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) with Chavez and Gilbert Padilla, told the NYT that Chavez sexually assaulted her. (RELATED: ROOKE: Trump Admin Sends Much Needed Lifeline To American Farmers Just In Nick Of Time) 

“As a young mother in the 1960s, I experienced two separate sexual encounters with Cesar. The first time I was manipulated and pressured into having sex with him, and I didn’t feel I could say no because he was someone that I admired, my boss and the leader of the movement I had already devoted years of my life to. The second time I was forced, against my will, and in an environment where I felt trapped,” Huerta wrote in a Wednesday statement.

“Both sexual encounters with Cesar led to pregnancies. I chose to keep my pregnancies secret and, after the children were born, I arranged for them to be raised by other families that could give them stable lives.” 

.@CAgovernor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) on accusations that Cesar Chavez abused girls: “We’re just I think all of us are processing it…We’re for justice. We’re for the truth. We’re for transparency. We want to have the backs of our victims, but it’s a sensitive, sensitive moment.” pic.twitter.com/lTtgxXMrOv — CSPAN (@cspan) March 18, 2026

.@CAgovernor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) on accusations that Cesar Chavez abused girls: “We’re just I think all of us are processing it…We’re for justice. We’re for the truth. We’re for transparency. We want to have the backs of our victims, but it’s a sensitive, sensitive moment.” pic.twitter.com/lTtgxXMrOv

— CSPAN (@cspan) March 18, 2026

The NYT found that Chavez fathered “at least four children with three other women,” reviewing 23AndMe match results for the individuals. Huerta is reportedly the mother of two of those children. 

Chavez joins a long list of civil rights icons accused of sexual wrongdoing. 

Gay rights activist Harvey Milk, then 33, reportedly had a sexual relationship with a 16 or 17-year-old boy. A Navy ship named after Milk was placed in service in 2023; Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the ship to be renamed in 2025. San Francisco International Airport opened Harvey Milk Terminal 1 in June 2024.

Martin Luther King Jr. likely engaged in extramarital affairs with as many as 45 women, according to Pulitzer Prize winning biographer David J. Garrow. King reportedly “looked on, laughed and offered advice” as a friend raped a woman, according to The Times. (RELATED: Tulsi Gabbard Declassifies Files On Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination) 

Malcolm X reportedly pimped women. Les Payne, a Malcolm X biographer, spoke to a friend of Malcolm X’s named John Davis Jr , who claimed Malcolm X stole from and slapped white women as revenge for racial discrimination. 

California leaders are now moving to take Chavez’s name off streets and buildings. I have no particular affection for Chavez, though I appreciate his hostility towards illegal immigrants — And wonder if that hostility has contributed to the left’s willingness to dispense with him. 

But I am amused by the left’s selectively applied moral outrage. I doubt the nation’s MLK Jr. statues will be melted down anytime soon.

Follow Natalie Sandoval on X: @NatSandovalDC

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