David Hernandez and Kristina Davis
San Diego Union-Tribune
Maria Eugenia Chavez Segovia boarded the 40-foot trawler-like boat with few items: identification, prayer cards, rosary beads and some Mexican pesos.
The 41-year-old single mother from a small town in central Mexico hoped to work in agriculture in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Her aspiration rested on the boat, which she and 31 other migrants with their own ambitions crowded aboard.
In the U.S., her sister and two brothers — who live in Stockton and Salinas — awaited her arrival, according to Luis Magaña, an advocate of agricultural workers in San Joaquin County and the Valley at large.