Posted on 02/07/2006 9:00:33 AM PST by devane617
WAHNETA - Large spider webs cling to the ceiling of a mobile home where 2 1/2 -month-old Isela lives with her 15-year-old mother and five other people.
The plywood floors are buckled. The windows that still have glass are sealed with duct tape; those that don't are covered with wood.
It's the only life Isela has known. And thousands of other migrant farmworkers and their families in Central Florida share her plight.
Isela's parents came illegally to this small Polk County community from Mexico a few months ago. Neither of them speaks English, but roommate Miguel Gomez does. He said migrant farmworkers have few choices when it comes to housing.
That's the case throughout much of rural Polk County, where accommodations for migrant laborers often consist of dilapidated mobile homes, cramped conditions and a lack of heat or air conditioning.
A county code enforcement sign on a mobile home east of Haines City warns of unsafe conditions. Inside are David Martinez and six acquaintances. They pay $700 a month to live in the mobile home, which is among a cluster of mobile homes on the property.
"It's difficult to get good homes here," Martinez said through a translator. "By the time we get here in December, it's hard. A lot of people are already here before us, and they get the best places."
State law requires people who rent to five or more unrelated migrant farmworkers to register with county health departments and to submit to inspections.
In Polk, there are 32 registered housing operations that collectively provide 1,738 beds to migrant farmworkers. A study prepared for the federal Bureau of Primary Health Care's Migrant Health Program shows that in 2000 there were at least 10,216 migrant farmworkers living in the county.
Israel Midence is Polk's migrant housing inspector, the only one. He said a fraction of residences that should be inspected actually are.
Tim Mayer is Midence's supervisor at the Polk County Health Department. He said 17 other inspectors in the department's environmental health division help look for migrant housing violations. None of them, however, is assigned that task.
Mayer said budget constraints preclude dedicating more inspectors to migrant farmworker housing.
"Right now everybody's limited by funding, and that's probably the biggest thing," Mayer said.
Hillsborough County has 70 registered migrant farmworker housing operations and 4,495 beds, according to the state Department of Health's migrant housing report.
Like Polk, Hillsborough has one inspector.
Laura Badillo, 24, and her family migrated for work until three years ago. Now she and her family rent housing registered and regulated by the Polk County Health Department.
She said few migrant farmworkers complain about substandard residences because they fear being kicked out of their homes or even the country. Also, Badillo said, many farmworkers don't know that "there are actually people who are going to try to help them live better."
Greg Schell, a lawyer with Florida Legal Services Inc.'s Migrant Farmworker Justice Program, is among those people.
He tries to improve working and living conditions for migrant laborers. He said many Americans aren't aware of the workers' plight.
"There is a tendency to say, 'It's their own fault and to heck with them.' However, what's really unfair is we have reaped the benefits of these folks' work," Schell said.
According to University of Florida economist Fritz Roka, migrant farmworkers have a tremendous effect on the Tampa Bay area's agricultural bottom line. Research he compiled from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2002 Census of Agriculture shows that migrant farmworkers helped generate a combined $864.5 million in crop values in Polk, Pasco, Hillsborough and Manatee counties in 2002.
Migrant farmworker Miguel Gomez said he does work that Americans don't want to do. For that reason, he said, more Americans should care about his living conditions and those of other migrant laborers and their families.
Jennifer Leigh seeks answers on why more isn't being done to improve migrant housing at 6 p.m. on WFLA-TV.
ping list
I hate to say that about my own party but it is true. I can almost guarantee you that the person who employs these workers lives like a king who won't share the profits.
The solution is to deport all the migrant workers who are illegal, demolish the housing, and follow up on a regular basis.
Then, find the people who are hiring these workers and try them in federal court, then in the local jurisdictions. In most cases the ones doing the hiring are labor brokers.
After that, put the word out to the owners of the farmland that anyone knowing hiring illegals, either directly or through brokers, will face prosecution under existing laws. Follow that up with regular inspections of worksites.
The only way this whole thing is going to stop is to remove the demand for these illegal workers. And the only way to do that is with legal sanctions and prison sentences for those who knowingly hire illegals.
My estimate of the probability of these things happening approaches zero. And there you have the problem in a nutshell. There's just too much money changing hands in all of this.
Exactly! Strangle the American citizen with regulations, while allowing illegals to be hired by a few to bypass the regulation.
Another thing... the "anchor baby." That kinda junk really pisses me off. I'll be paying through the nose to send my boy off to college, to pay for broken bones and illness, and for school lunches, but this child's parent (singular) will pay squat. You and I will pay for all of it.
---I am saying it---if it's so bad here, go back to where they came from---
For that reason, he said, more Americans should care about his living conditions and those of other migrant laborers and their families.
Screw you too, Miguel. You don't like where you live? Improve your condition. As your neighbor, we'll help raise your barn, but we won't pay for it...that's up to you.
Not enough opportunity picking lettuce? Then assimilate yourself and your family, and pursue success. Nobody is holding a gun to your head forcing you to stay uneducated and in the farm fields.
And brought the filthy third-world along with them, sounds like. Do they know any other way?
Evidently this writer believes that the second one sets foot on U.S. soil, legal or no, they are entitled to everything that those of us born here work all our lives to obtain.
Which would be fine, if this knucklehead was paying for it all herself. Hah! You know that'll never happen.
The conditions described here are deplorable. But why must you drag the president into this? I doubt very much that he wants this to happen--that's why he is pushing the guest worker program. I don't agree with the president on his immigration policies, but I certainly don't blame him for this. I've seen similar working conditions in NJ--just happened to drive into one of these camps and was dismayed. It does mean, however, that we need a way to allow workers into the country through legal means so that they will be protected by our laws. Allow them to work and pay taxes too.
I think MineralMan has the best idea here. It sounds rough on the surface, but would help these people in the long run. When people come here illegally, they place their lives in the hands of people who will abuse them. If they obey our laws to get here, then we have a good system that protects citizens, and will protect them too.
Another "Bush's fault"? Why are the workers here, illegally, in the first place? Doesn't Mexico have the responsibility for caring for their own people? Mexico is just as rich in natural resources and is an older country than the US. If Mexicans had jobs and a responsible government, we'd have fewer illegals looking for work. In addition, fewer illegals means better border security, more attractive "guest worker" amenities and more responsible citizens. If the living conditions described in the story was worse than the conditions in Mexico, illegals would go back to Mexico. Why don't we hear it's "Fox's fault"?
No air conditioning?
My heart bleeds for them.
O.K. not really. I spent part of my childhood in one of the hottest deserts, no air conditioning. I survived just fine.
I am a plant....since 2001????? Come on newby, get with the program!
We apparently disagree on this subject but I will not call you names. Good day.
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