The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez
Francisco Jimenez is a migrant child born in 1943 in Tlaquepaque, Mexico, and the youngest in the family. After the end of the Second World War, the family immigrates to the United States. At the time, most farmers were hiring immigrants to work on their farms. According to Francisco, life in Mexico was pretty hard. The families had no access to education, running water, electricity, and prospects for a better life, which could be the reason most families migrate to the US.
The life of many migrant workers
The immigrants attend schools without knowing English and work for long hours harvesting produce. The first story, “Under the wire,” of the book describes how the Jimenez family moves to the US with a motive to find consistent work. The hope for a new life was not a reality for them since the family gets exposed to hard work. They harvest cotton, strawberries, and grapes by hand, and Payment was only according to produce harvested (Sifuentez, 2016). During harvesting, the laborers live in camps that provide temporary housing. When crop seasons change, so do homes. Sometimes the families live in tents, in garages of the farmers and shacks. The best homes were downstairs in an old house. The only thing that was consistent for the Jimenez family was that home changed (Jimenez, 2010).
The life of migrant workers today
Many of the issues discussed in the book are still relevant today. Immigrants work for low wages, struggle to learn English, and worry about deportation and separation from their family members. Moving from place to place with the whole family, especially for children, makes them yearn for stability and a place to call home (Jimenez, 2017).
Reference
Jiménez, T. R. (2010). Replenished Ethnicity: Mexican Americans, immigration, and identity. Univ of California Press.
Sifuentez, M. J. (2016). Of forests and fields: Mexican Labor in the Pacific Northwest. Rutgers University Press.
Jimenez, T. (2017). The other side of assimilation: How immigrants are changing American life. Univ of California Press.