ORLANDO SENTINEL

January 8, 2008

Polk County residents buck housing plan for migrant workers

Amy L. Edwards | Sentinel Staff Writer

Facing a decades-old shortage of decent housing for his migrant workers, a Central Florida citrus harvester wants to build his own.

But the groundbreaking plan to construct three dormitories faces immense public opposition. Polk County commissioners will consider the project Wednesday.

Proposed by Tri-Ben Groves, the plan is "kind of on the cutting edge of what's going to be the norm here," said Fran Becker, vice president of Peace River Citrus Products Inc.

While the agriculture community has rallied to support the project, more than 400 people -- many of whom don't live anywhere near the rural location -- signed a petition against it. Countless residents also spoke against the plans at a planning-commission meeting last fall -- among the most-attended in recent memory.

Because the workers have been hired under the federal H-2A visa program, the dormitories must meet strict federal and state regulations. Although it is still uncommon in Florida, some citrus businesses are turning to the federal program as a way to hire temporary, documented farmworkers.

The program is "one of the few options Florida citrus growers now have to obtain legal workers to harvest their fruit," industry experts say.

"We think that Polk County can really shape some policy that maybe other counties can pick up as well," said Andrew Meadows, spokesman for grower group Florida Citrus Mutual.


Residents fear crime

Background checks are conducted on all workers before they're hired. If workers violate laws or employer policies -- such as no alcohol or loud music in the dorms -- they are sent back to their country and not allowed to return to the United States for 10 years, said Bo Bentley, a manager of the Winter Haven-based Bentley Brothers citrus company, of which Tri-Ben is a subsidiary.

"These guys are here to work. These aren't criminals. They're not thugs," he said.

But that hasn't eased the concerns of residents who oppose the project for reasons that include increased litter, criminal activity and decreased property values.

"When you get that many people in a place that far from town . . . there's just going to be trouble," Mary Smith said.

She fears the workers will drink alcohol or maybe use drugs, which could lead to crime in their otherwise quiet community.

"We just feel like it's not a safe situation," she said.

Bentley thinks such concerns are invalid.

He said many residents aren't familiar with the H-2A program and its housing component, which is vastly different from communities with nonlegal workers who rent from private landlords.

Bentley said they'll provide on-site recreation and cleaning services.

"It's so new, it's completely different," Bentley said.

Becker, whose business has citrus-processing facilities in Bartow and Arcadia, said it is imperative that agriculture companies are able to secure housing sites for H-2A workers.

Those who support the housing project say the public needs to understand migrant workers will -- and already do -- live in Polk County regardless of their legal status.

"It's a choice of having them here documented . . . or have them here illegally living with a slumlord," Becker said.

Bentley said he isn't surprised by the opposition his project his gained, and neither is Blanca Gonzalez with the Plant City-based Immigrants United for Freedom.

"These people [migrants] have always been here. Now they're afraid of us," Gonzalez said.

'Such bad conditions'

With few of Florida's citrus growers currently using the program, industry experts say many of the estimated 250,000 to 300,000 migrant workers who travel through the state annually rent mobile homes, apartments or houses from private parties -- often in deplorable conditions.

Migrant-worker advocates say it isn't uncommon for several families to live in one mobile home, with one clan sleeping in the kitchen, another family taking a bedroom, and another, a small living room, because it's all they can afford.

"The mobile homes are in such bad conditions," said Veronica Arteaga, center coordinator for the Redlands Christian Migrant Association child-care center in the Wahneta community near Winter Haven.

Arteaga said many landlords won't rent to workers who have children. Some families end up living in their cars because they cannot find a home. And landlords often abuse the situations -- Arteaga knows of one family that went three months without water.

Carmen Garcia, a migrant worker who lives in Polk County during the citrus season, said her family is fortunate and rents a "practically new" three-bedroom mobile home from a relative for $300 a month.

But she knows what other workers face. Garcia said she recently checked out a trailer in Wahneta in "horrible" condition with one bathroom. She said the owner wanted $400 a month.

Despite the challenges and the poor conditions in which many migrant workers live, they're unlikely to complain or ask for help.

"Most of them come from having very little," said Gonzalez of Immigrants United for Freedom. "They come from places where most of them sleep on dirt floors, so coming into a mobile home, even if it's a wreck, is better than where they came from.

"They won't complain because they don't really know any better," she said. "They figure, 'It's better than what I had.' "