What Is a “Migrant Farmworker?
A migrant farmworker is someone who works primarily in agriculture or an agriculture-related industry, like food processing. “Migrant” farmworkers move from ‘home base” communities in patterns known as “migrant streams.” “Seasonal” farmworkers live in communities year-round. Across the United States, migrant/famworkers face severely rundown housing, overcrowding issues, and high housing costs. More Facts about Colonias and Migrant Farmworkers • From 2001-2004, 29 percent of hired crop workers interviewed in the Department of Labor’s National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) had family incomes that were below the federal poverty level. • Colonias residents have an average income of $5,000/year. The vast majority of U.S. counties that have been poor for four decades or more are in the Texas border region. • The border region saw a rapid 22% growth in the 1990s. • The colonia crowding rate is four times the national average. • 85% of Colonias residents are U.S. citizens; 97% are Hispani
