Armando Najera Ramos
Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW)
La Belle, FL 2014
People have long moved through the Everglades by necessity, whether it be Seminoles escaping US military onslaught, immigrants, or migrant farm workers.
After African American farm workers in the mid-1900s resisted unfair labor conditions on sugarcane farms, employers turned to temporary H-2A workers from the We Indies. Farm laborers today mostly hail from Mexico and Central America. There are approximately 1,200 H-2A workers in the Everglades region, most working in citrus groves. Overall, the region has more than 30,000 farm workers.
Of Florida’s farm workers, seventy percent report undocumented status. As with other species, the ways people are categorized—such as migrant, seasonal, or temporary guest worker, or as citizen or non- citizen—define their rights and shape their futures.