El Rancho de Familia
Ricky Sears has been growing tobacco his entire life. His father and grandfather owned Sears’ farm before him. When he first purchased the farm from his family he employed local laborers and kids on summer break from school but as the farm and the workload grew he was forced to hire migrant workers. Sears works with the North Carolina Growers Association to recruit and employ legal, temporary workers from Mexico.
Juan Hernández has worked in the U.S. for 12 years and has worked on Sears’ farm for the past four years. He works in the U.S. nine months of the year to help afford his family a better life in Mexico. He comes from Aguascalientes, Mexico where his father also farms tobacco and when he returns to his family each November he does much of the same work for his father that he does here in the US.
Marcos Rodarte has worked for Ricky Sears for five years. He is from Santiago Ixcuintla, Mexico where he attended university and earned a degree in accounting but comes to the U.S. to work on a farm because he cannot find work in Mexico. Although he is more comfortable speaking Spanish, over the past five years he has taught himself English. Sears has a great deal of confidence in him and has given him a lot of responsibilities on the farm.
“I come here because there are opportunities for a better life. We sacrifice ourselves a little bit to live better in Mexico.”
Duration : 0:5:24
