Maria's Story

Maria came to Florida para salir adelante—to get ahead. She arrived as a teenager in the mid-1990s, escaping a life of poverty on her family’s Oaxacan corn patch.

Maria and her husband envisioned a future for their family that was out of reach in Oaxaca, one of the poorest states in Mexico. In south Florida, she worked seven days a week filling bins with squash, tomatoes, beans, and cucumbers. Neither of them enjoyed working in the Florida fields, but without papers it’s all they could do. “That’s why we came here—to work,” said Maria, now 34 years old. “In the factories or restaurants they ask for papers, but in the fields no.”

Although their lives were not easy, for years they felt they were moving ahead. But in 2008, the country plunged into a deep recession and agricultural work in Florida grew scarce. “For the past few years, we are working only to survive,” Maria said. To supplement their income, the couple would travel north to plant tomatoes during the Florida off-season. In 2010, Maria couldn’t go because she was pregnant, so her husband went to Ohio alone. The family has not been together since.

Traveling by bus on his way back to Florida, Maria’s husband was stopped by immigration officials and deported to Mexico. “He wants to return, but it’s very difficult,” she said. “They charge $4,000 to $5,000 to cross the border. This is money I don’t have.”

Maria’s husband is now in Mexico working to raise the money to return to the United States, but to earn what it costs is difficult for a laborer without a formal education or marketable skills.

Maria thought about going back to Mexico. For her U.S.-born children, Mexico is an unknown and unappealing destination; they’re American in every sense of the word. Despite Maria’s full-time job, the loss of her husband’s income means that Maria’s daughters, who are citizens, depend on federal nutrition programs to ensure they have enough to eat. Maria herself relies on support from civil society organizations like the Farm Worker Association of Florida. She continues to work in the bean fields. For the sake of her children, she’s going to stay in the United States and hope for the best.

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