September 29, 2022Hurricane Ian damages undocumented migrant communities in Florida
Neza Xiuhtecutli spent most of Thursday calling and texting and retexting colleagues along Florida's storm-battered southwest coast, hoping to reach someone who can shed light on damage there. Xiuhtecutli, executive director of the Farmworker Association of Florida, was particularly worried about the scores of migrant farmworkers who live and work in Hurricane Ian's destructive path. Undocumented workers, many of whom work the area's citrus, strawberry and sugarcane fields, are particularly vulnerable during natural disasters and in their aftermath, he said. There are an estimated 700,000 farm workers in Florida, about half of them undocumented. "My biggest fear is they don’t have access to food, don’t have power and don’t have information that helps them stay safe," Xiuhtecutli said. "They're vulnerable."