Maria Martinez's father had been coming to the United States from Monterrey, Mexico to find seasonal work for many years, when 15-year old Maria decided to do the same. In the early 1980s, she found work at some Maryland plant nurseries, but returned home at the end of the season. In 1991, she came to Selbyville, Delaware to work at the Mountaire poultry processing plant. Maria remembered: "I remember that…when I arrived here Mountaire-well Mountaire was just nothing. You didn't see it in town. Nor did you see Hispanics…the town looked like a ghost town. They didn't have Mexican food, either."

When Perdue arrived in Sussex County in the late 1980s, it diversified production even as consumers' demand for chicken grew. Hispanics gained a reputation as good, prompt, obedient and fast workers. The sudden flood of workers drastically changed the community. Georgetown's population doubled over the course of ten years, with Hispanics making up 40% of the population by 2000. Maria Martinez noted the change

Not all of the newest immigrants to southern Delaware are rural peasants, many come from middle class towns and educated families. Bilingual immigrants like Maria Martinez have found work advocating for other immigrants or working to educate migrant children. Most of them maintain strong ties to their homes in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic, even as they make a life for themselves in Delaware.

The book, Creating Community: Hispanic Migration to Rural Delaware by Katherine Borland and published by the Delaware Heritage Commission, is available.