Últimas noticias

I was married and living with my husband and four daughters in Mexico. When my husband was killed, I was left alone with my girls, so my parents helped me take care of them. I lived on my ranch in Mexico for many years, but there was no work on the ranch. Then I met Jaime, who told me about an opportunity to work in the United States and connected me with a man who brought people to the U.S. to work. He helped me come to the U.S. for the first time.

What was the recruitment process like for you when you migrated for the first time?

The recruiters told me to get a passport and wait for a job opening. Once an opportunity arose, they sent me to the U.S. 

My first time migrating was very difficult, because of the expenses of the visa fee, the airfare, and all the expenses that we used to have to cover ourselves. We didn't get a cent back. Now most of the expenses are reimbursed by the employer, but not everything. I spent nine years working on an island near Washington, and throughout every season of work, nothing was ever reimbursed. In fact, before, nobody even talked about reimbursements. It was in Maryland that they started offering us reimbursements. I had that job in Washington, but then the factory closed, so I came to Maryland. Then I spent a year in Virginia, working with oysters, but I didn't like it because there weren't any machines. I was only there for a year, and the next year I came back to Maryland. Currently, I've been working on H-2B visas for 32 consecutive years. 

What were the biggest challenges you faced at work?

You get used to all kinds of things. Sometimes it's not about whether you like it or not, but about needing to work and saying to yourself, "I'm going to work and I'm going to get ahead, I'm going to learn," especially in the beginning. There are people who can't learn, because they don't like doing so or because they're not good at that job. They work for a while, and if they don't learn, they leave. Here, many people have left because they couldn't learn how to clean crabs, and the bosses start saying things like, “the meat you’ve picked has bones” or “the meat has this and that in it”. People get tired and discouraged.

We'd start at 3 in the morning and finish at 3 or 4 in the afternoon, in the same position throughout, picking the crabs and getting so little meat out that it was almost invisible. A lot of people get frustrated, but you have to think, “I'm going to learn and I'm going to try to get ahead”. You can't just quit a job so easily. We don't have the luxury of saying, “I can't cope here, I'm going somewhere else,” because there's a contract, and the contract is tied to this job and this boss, and so we have to be there, unless the boss says otherwise. The boss has done that before. If we don't meet the required quota or manage to produce the pounds of meat they demand, or if he doesn't like our work, well, he fires us.

I've always said that we need to find a way to make employers at least provide transportation when we need to go to the doctor, because here, if you need to go to the doctor, you have to find transportation yourself. The transport options to go and get medical attention cost at least $100. On top of that, we need to buy medication, which is often very expensive.

I had a serious problem at work once. Someone disrespected me, and I got very angry and went to tell the employer, but I couldn't explain the situation because I don't speak English. But the employer never wants to know about the problems we, the workers, face.

Why did you decide to join the Migrant Defense Committee?

Because there are so many abuses of our labor rights. Sometimes the very people we work with, the employers or other people who work for them, don't respect our rights. For example, there's workplace discrimination, there's no medical care, the housing provided is in bad condition. I joined the Committee precisely because you have to find a way to defend yourself, and to get help. 

Now I can talk about the problems and abuses, and I’m not so afraid to speak out anymore, which many people are. For example, right now, we're in our second week of work. During our first week, we were paid for 14 hours, but this week we worked for 20 hours and they didn’t pay me my full salary for those hours of work. They deducted 3 hours of pay. Now, I feel confident enough to demand my full pay.

You can defend yourself, and you do have somewhere to go and ask what your rights are. That's what the Committee is for: to advise you, to tell you what to do, so you can speak up.

What would you say to people who are thinking about migrating or who are working in this type of industry and facing violations of their rights? 

Defend yourselves and speak up, because it's not fair to work and not receive what you’re owed for your time and labor. I would also say don't be afraid to speak up about your problems. The Committee and CDM are everywhere now, and lots of people already have information about migrant support and the Committee.

Right now, here on the island, all the women working in crab picking know about CDM and the Committee because we've talked to them about it. CDM members have come to provide training, share workers’ stories, and show videos about how they organize and support us, and about our rights. Now the workers shouldn't be afraid anymore; they should speak up about anything they don't like or anything they see that's unjust. We just have to speak up and overcome our fear.

Any thoughts on the changes to the H-2 visa rules or things you'd like to see improved regarding H-2B visas?

Regarding H-2B visas, I'd like to see the right to healthcare guaranteed. Healthcare is what I and many others here would like, not because it is a desire, but because it is a necessity. Access to healthcare, especially transportation to ensure we can go to the clinic and get the medications we're prescribed, would be a huge step forward.

If you are also a migrant worker and are interested in protecting and defending your labor rights, join the fight. Contact the Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (CDM) from Mexico at +52 55 9661 6771 or from the United States at +1 667 217-5738 for advice and information about the Migrant Defense Committee.