The western area of the Diocese of Saint Augustine is a big source of ornamental ferns that, combined with flowers, make bouquets. In Florida, fern cutting can be year-round work. But the big seasons are Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.
Driven by Desperation
Many of the fern cutters in Florida are undocumented immigrants from Mexico. That’s understandable. The border between the United States and Mexico is where the third world meets the “New World” that many Mexicans want to live in. After all, between 40 and 50 percent of Mexico’s population lives in poverty — desperation drives them across the border.
Those from Central and South America who are seeking a better life often come through Mexico, which means that they have to cross a chain of borders. And it may cost between $1,500 to $3,000 to cross each border. How do they accumulate such sums?
One source is money from the United States. One fern cutter, helped by her son who works in construction, says she has been sending $200 a month to Mexico. It’s been reported that the second largest contribution to Mexico’s GDP, or gross domestic product, is money sent home by Mexican workers in the United States, including the undocumented.
But getting across the border isn’t easy. One fern cutter, who we'll call “Miguel” (none of the fern cutters' names are real) says, “If you want to tell the real story, go to the desert. You will see arms, hands, heads.” He is talking about the desert where hundreds of Mexicans did not survive the desert’s scorching heat, trying to get from Mexico through Arizona.
Another fern cutter, “Rosa,” explains through an interpreter how she got here. She came with her sister, sister-in-law and two infants, one eight months, the other 18 months old.
“We came through a sewer pipe,” Rosa says. “I carried my eight-month-old nephew.” She said they told her that if he cried, she should cover the baby’s mouth tightly with her hand. “I told myself I could not do this. I would rather be caught,” she said.
The three women and the two babies were not caught. Rosa has been here now for 12 years. She has cut ferns, harvested cucumbers, eggplants and other crops and collected pinestraw.
“Jose,” who has worked in the ferneries, says that living as an undocumented worker is a cautious life.
“Maria,” another undocumented worker and fern cutter, says that they are always glancing over their shoulders for fear of strangers, and, at the same time, looking down for dangers they may find there: thorns and/or the pesticides on the ferns that give them a rash on their arms; snakes; mounds of fire ants; rats and mice or other pests that can easily waylay a day’s work, and, more importantly, a day’s pay in the fields.
Many people complain that the Latino workers are taking jobs away from Americans. Standing amid the ferns, “Maria” says, “Where are the Anglos?” Answer: The “Anglos” can get better jobs than this.
Florida is rich in ferns. In 1997, leatherleaf ferns and other cut greens were grown on more than 7,300 acres, according to the Florida Fern Growers Association’s website. With sales totaling $85.5 million, Florida continues as the national leader in sales of cut cultivated greens. The workers say there are about 20 kinds of ornamental ferns that are cut at different times of the year to fill out bouquets and flower arrangements.
Some ferns are grown under huge shade screens to protect them from the sun. Others are grown under the natural canopy of oaks, where the soft fern undergrowth is as picturesque as a Disney movie.
Exploited and Suspicious
But for those who work there life is not idyllic or pastoral. Hour after hour, they bend, cut, add a stem to the bunch. They are paid a piece rate. Depending on which fern they are cutting and the fern grower, the pay ranges between 18 cents and 25 cents a bunch. The crew boss also may earn between 2 cents and five cents per bunch.
Earning 20 cents a bunch, with 20 stems in a bunch, a fern cutter has to cut 200 bunches (4,000 stems) per day to earn $40 per day.
And when the fern cutters are sick, they are afraid to go to the doctor, to the hospital. They can only find help at clinics operated by social service agencies or through medical professionals who are willing to donate their services.
To be hired they use other people’s social security numbers or they make up numbers, knowing that, although they pay these taxes, they will not benefit from them.
Asked what their bosses do with the money when filing for FICA, they just shrug their shoulders. Questions give rise to suspicion and a review by authorities that could jeopardize their jobs. They keep their silence. They do not rock the boat. As a result, the Social Security Administration has received, between 1991 and 2000, 60 million mis-matched wage records with a total value of $239 billion.
How do undocumented workers get around? They can buy their cars from other Latinos, and they can (have to) drive without drivers’ licenses or insurance.
That’s not a good idea. Everyone loses when these workers can’t get licenses, says Nancy Valdivieso, director of Catholic Charities Legalization Program. Car dealers and insurance companies lose business, drivers are put at risk by uninsured motorists who don’t know the rules of the road, and Florida misses out on collecting licensing fees.
It would be better if the undocumented were able to get driver’s licenses, she says. Everyone would be safer. The undocumented would have to learn the rules of the road, defensive driving etc. They would also have to have insurance, a protection for all of us.
“Maria” will tell you that her life as a fern cutter has been hard. Bad weather often means there’s no work. Sometimes the ferns are not ready for cutting. Some of their bunches are rejected. Yet, as difficult as her life might be, she has compassion for those from the southern area of Mexico, who also seek a better life in the States. These are indigenous people, such as the Indians from Chiapas. They do not speak Spanish, so cannot communicate even with the Mexicans and Latinos. Descendants of great Maya tribes who built the pyramid structures in Mexico, the people from Chiapas, especially, are often treated like indentured servants. Sometimes their crew bosses demand money for meals, lodging at the camps, transportation, and other necessities at the migrant farm camps. As the song goes, they “owe their soul to the company store.”
“Rosa” says she and her common-law husband have three children 5, 7 and 11. All their children were born in the United States. “Rosa” and her husband would like to get married — and in the Catholic Church. “My parents raised me Catholic,” “Rosa” says, “and I want to get married in the Church.”
But getting married here would have created a legal web that might have jeopardized their dream of becoming legalized permanent residents, Rosa says.
Now, there is new threat for Latinos wanting to cross the border, because Mexican gangs are preying on the “coyotes” — the smugglers — kidnapping the smugglers’ “cargo,” hold them for ransom, calling their families demanding money. In early December, the Associated Press reported that Mexican and Guatemalan authorities estimate 3,000 such gang members operate along their borders.
Quest to Become a Citizen
9/11, too, has made a big difference in the fern cutters’ lives. Homeland Security has made them even more cautious. Many no longer risk going home when a grandparent, mother or father is ill or even on Christmas when one million — presumably documented — Mexican workers do go home.
In “Rosa’s” quest to become a citizen, she says, she and her family gave a Miami attorney $10,000. But, even after several years, nothing happened. Rosa and her common-law husband eventually sought the assistance of Catholic Charities Legalization Program. Their application is now in the pipeline.
Chiqui Maldonado, director of Catholic Charities' Farmworkers' Ministry, is certified by the Board of Immigration Appeals to handle immigration cases. Maldonado says that, although they provide many other services, “The main service we provide is the legalization of immigrants through the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.”
That’s the new name of what was the Immigration and Naturalization Service. It was taken over by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and stripped of its enforcement responsibilities. Two DHS organizations now handle enforcement — one to prevent illegal entry, the other to handle “Detention and Removal.”
Maldonado says that for Mexicans applying for permanent residence there is a wait of seven to eight years. Those who have permanent residence and then seek U.S. citizenship, must wait at least three to five years, depending on their status, to become citizens.
Many Mexicans, along with Mexican President Vincente Fox, had hoped there would be an amnesty program for workers. But that initiative came to an abrupt halt after 9/11.
But there are signs of hope for the undocumented. The Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, said in December that some form of legal resident status should be granted to the millions of illegal immigrants. “We have to legalize their status,” Ridge said. On January 7th, President Bush proposed a new temporary worker program to “match willing foreign workers with willing American employers” and “offer legal status, as temporary workers, to the millions of undocumented men and women now employed in the United States”. Hopefully, Congress will pass a bill this spring that would legalize “Miguel,” “Rosa,” and “Maria.”
Chelle Delaney is the associate editor of the St. Augustine Catholic magazine for the Diocese of Saint Augustine in Florida.
This article previously appeared in the St. Augustine Catholic, www.staugcatholic.org/, and is used by permission.
