Many businesses in Florida are navigating murky waters as they try to figure out the state’s new immigration laws. WMFE’s Talia Blake continues our series Central Florida Seen and Heard: Immigration Divide with a look at the cost to businesses and undocumented workers.
For this story, we are using only the first name of the undocumented immigrant we spoke with. Her name is Maria.
Maria and her husband fled their home in Tamaulipas, Mexico in 2016 because of violent crime and drugs.
Seven years later, she now works at a produce farm in Apopka. For Maria, everything is different here.
"I finished my studies in psychology. I worked for a while with a group of women," she said. "I liked my work a great deal, but I was frightened because of the crimes in the city."
Maria came to the U.S. on a tourist
visa to visit her siblings and she never left.
She says since arriving here, she's been working her way through the citizenship process.
So far, she says it has cost her $4,000, and she will have to spend at least another $3,000 more to finish.
Maria said that while she makes more than minimum wage that type of money doesn’t come easy or without sacrifice.
"Currently, I am making $14 an hour. But everything else has increased. So it's very difficult to live here."
When she is not at work, Maria volunteers with Hope Community Center and Esperanza Behavioral Health and Services.
She said that volunteer work brings much pleasure to her life, but when it...
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