Keene, CA – On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee continued with its second round of markups to the 844-page immigration reform bill known as the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 (S. 744). The legislation, which is backed by the United Farm Workers, was introduced last month by a bipartisan group of Senators.
The legislation calls for a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S. and includes special provisions for farm workers. The markup session kicked off on May 9 with more than 300 amendments filed. Additional markup dates are scheduled for May 16 and the 20th.
Farm workers such as Erika Soto, a California resident, is keeping her fingers crossed in hopes the bill will become a reality and improve the lives of many immigrants and agriculture workers like her.
If Soto could have it her way, she’d be home in Mexico City with her parents, siblings and the rest of her extended family. But across the border, the 33-year old can only think of it as a dream − at least for now.
“Having the ability to at least visit my family members and come back to the United States and work would be like a dream come true,” said Soto who immigrated to the U.S. five years ago. She first arrived to the state of Oregon, where she worked as a farm worker picking tangerines, kiwis, peaches, garlic, blueberries, and cherries. Back in Mexico, Soto worked as a product demonstrator at apartment stores.
“To work as a farm worker is something I had never considered. I remember my first day of work in agriculture,” she recalls. “It was at a broccoli packing shed; and that day it rained a lot. I ended up soaking wet. The next day my body ached all over and had little energy to do anything else, even to take care of my children.”
In Mexico, Soto was a single mother. Her parents, Maria Elena Leon and Alfredo Soto Enriquez, helped her raise her 11-year-old daughter Fernanda. But Mexico’s tough economy and a personal urge to seek better horizons motivated Soto to follow her boyfriend’s footsteps in crossing the border undocumented.
A few months after crossing the border, she gave birth to now five-year-old Alfredo Garcia.
Soto says she came to the U.S. with the goal of earning enough money to buy a house, save some money, and go back home to help her parents. But as time goes by, she has noticed that Alfredo and even Fernanda are becoming more attached to their home in this country.
“This is the place they now call home,” Soto says.
