Maria E.

About Maria E.

Maria Espinoza grew up in Immokalee, Florida and is from a Farmworker family. During her childhood she migrated with her family throughout the Southeast following the tomato harvest as seasonal and migrant farmworkers. This is where her passion for labor rights, immigration policy, and grassroots organizing began. She is an honors graduate from the University of Florida. Maria was a funded undergraduate researcher focusing on the intersections between labor and immigration policy, and was a Research Assistant at the University of Florida Levin College of Law where she worked on law reviews analyzing the H-2A Visa Program. She began her career at the National Opinion Research Center, where she worked on various national research projects evaluating the health and wellbeing of migrant farmworker families. She then worked at Farmworker Justice as a Project Coordinator working with grassroot organizations across the country implementing workplace sexual harassment intervention and prevention programs. In addition to her policy and research work, she has dedicated extensive efforts to grassroots organizing over the course of her career. Most recently, she received a political appointment from the Biden-Harris administration to serve at USDA in the Office of External and Intergovernmental Affairs as a Special Assistant.

Experience

1. Policy Advisor

   U.S. Department Of Labor

   Sep 2024 — Present · Washington, DC, US

Education

• University of Florida

  Bachelor of Arts - BA, Criminology

• University of Florida

  Bachelor of Science - BS, Agriculture

• American University Washington College of Law

  J.D.

  2025 — 2028

• Immokalee High School

  High School Diploma