Esmeralda Sandoval remembers being just 5 years old, squeezed between the dusty bins in Florida’s fields, trying not to be seen while her parents worked under the hot sun picking oranges.
Today, she channels that experience into helping farmworkers as a case manager in the rural town of Othello.
“I never thought I’d be where I’m at now,” Sandoval said.
For the past year, Sandoval has been working at Nuestras Raíces Community Center’s Othello location as a case manager, helping Latinos in Othello and the surrounding areas access resources. Many of those who come through, she said, are farmworkers seeking assistance. Most recently, their biggest concern has been the risk of being forced to leave the country as the Trump administration continues its mass deportation efforts.
Another major concern, Sandoval said, is obtaining financial assistance for health-related needs.
“A lot of them don’t qualify for health insurance. It’s very frustrating for people to assume farmworkers take advantage of the health care system. Many don’t qualify for anything,” she said. “I see that so much and they don’t go to the doctor because they’re scared to get a big bill.”
Having grown up with parents who migrated from state to state as farmworkers in the fields, she knows their fears firsthand. Sandoval said she lived in 18 states while with her parents and continued working in the fields herself until the age of 25.
“My mom would pick us up after school, and she’d come all dirty with her bandana on, and she’d be like, ‘Hurry up. We gotta go. We gotta go.’ And she’d take us to the field,” Sandoval said.
She said her parents picked oranges and strawberries in Florida and blueberries in Michigan. They even made it to Othello; however, the winters eventually sent them back to Florida.
Eight years ago, strict immigration policies in Florida caused her parents to move back to Washington state because of their status. Sandoval, who was recognized as a “dreamer” at age 16 when the DACA program first became available for people brought into the United States as children, said she stayed behind in Florida for a while, feeling secure enough to do so before eventually moving to Washington state.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is a U.S. immigration policy introduced in 2012 under the Obama administration. It allows certain undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children to receive temporary protection from deportation and the ability to work legally.
Sandoval said she has since become a U.S. citizen.
“I stayed over there, and I just continued to have those barriers. There were no benefits for me, there was no medical insurance for me, there was nothing. I was just working to pay bills, and I felt like I had no life,” Sandoval said. “Now as an adult, I can only imagine all the barriers and all the challenges my parents faced.”
Fernanda Mazcot, executive director of the nonprofit, said Sandoval’s deep understanding of farmworker life and being an immigrant has been central to the team’s ability to serve the community effectively in the rural town.
Whenever Nuestras Raíces holds an outreach event in the area, people stopping by will ask the same thing, she said.
“They come and ask for Esmeralda,” Mazcot said.
For a while, Mazcot said Sandoval had been advocating for a clothing bank at their Othello site, noting that many families and farmworkers lack transportation, which makes shopping for clothes, especially for children, difficult.
Under her initiative, the clothing bank has recently opened there.
“Clothes are so expensive nowadays; you go to the store and something so small is like $17,” Sandoval said. “The community has been so great to us. They’ve donated so much, not only clothing, but their time.”
Additionally, with the nonprofit newly becoming a behavioral health agency, Sandoval hopes the Othello location can focus more on mental health for farmworkers and Latinos, noting that many of those conversations don’t exist in Latino culture.
She is currently pursuing her master’s in social work through Grand Canyon University in hopes of helping get that implemented in the area.
“It would be nice if we could do that in Othello, and especially from an individual who understands the culture and understands the perspectives of a Latino household,” Sandoval said. “I think that’s what makes a huge difference, having someone who can understand you.”
