Migrants Seek Aid After Cold Destroys Crops : Florida: Thousands of farm workers petition for government help. Officials say there are jobs in citrus fields 200 miles away.

Christmas in Florida proved cruel this year for thousands of migrant farm workers who came from places as far away as Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador.

The record Christmas weekend freeze killed up to 90% of the winter vegetable crops in South Florida just as the migrants arrived. The cold also damaged the citrus of Central Florida, but much of that can be turned to juice.

Although migrant workers are needed 200 miles to the north to rush the damaged citrus from the trees, there is nothing for them to do at the tip of the peninsula.

“We want the government to hear our cries,” said farm worker Oscar Sanchez, who lives in Florida City and watches the migration each year.

“You can see right across the street--beans, squash--that’s what we were relying on until the tomatoes,” he said, pointing to wilting crops that are burned brown.

Surrounding Sanchez at the Everglades labor camp Friday, workers and their children lined up to sign petitions pleading for government help.

Food stamps were already being distributed in the drab camp of white trailers lined up behind a chain-link fence amid open fields that border the Everglades. About 2,000 adults are living at the camp.

“We’re not satisfied only with food stamps,” said Ramon Salinas, a veteran of the camp. “We have to pay rent, utilities, buy clothes for the kids.”

The crowd at the Everglades camp included small bands of bored children wearing Mickey Mouse shirts as well as grandmothers in sneakers ready to work in the fields. Many of the families have up to seven children.

The freeze idled about 15,000 farm worker families in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley also. Plans to open four centers for displaced agricultural workers have been postponed while the American Red Cross, the Texas Department of Human Services and Hidalgo County work out details.

About 60% of the Rio Grande Valley’s $80-million citrus crop was lost to the freeze, and 80%--or $20-million worth--of the region’s remaining vegetable crop was destroyed.

Florida Gov. Bob Martinez declared the state a disaster area Thursday and asked the federal government to approve low-interest loans for farmers. But he is still collecting information before asking for a presidential disaster declaration that could bring emergency unemployment benefits.

A spokeswoman for Martinez said the workers’ best answer is to go north to the citrus groves and work there salvaging fruit until another round of vegetable crops is ready. Growers say that will be six to eight weeks.

“There is a high demand for workers in citrus,” said Jeanee Elswick, director of the state’s migrant labor program.