Thread: LA's skid row immigrant population grows!

L.A.'s Skid Row Immigrant Population Grows
May 21 11:06 PM US/Eastern
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By PAUL CHAVEZ
Associated Press Writer


LOS ANGELES


A shadow population lives among the estimated 14,000 homeless on Skid Row.

A growing number of immigrants are bedding down each night in parks, abandoned buildings and cardboard boxes, finding refuge in camouflaged encampments under freeway overpasses and bridges.



Mostly from Mexico and Central America, many entered the United States illegally in search of a steady job _ and fell far short. They largely shun the free meals and beds offered on Skid Row, and according to service providers are less likely to be drug addicted or mentally disturbed than other homeless in the destitute area on the fringe of downtown.

"Our Spanish-speaking immigrant homeless feel uncomfortable going to existing shelters because of the language barrier or fear of violence," said the Rev. Steve Niskanen of downtown's La Placita Church.

Though there is no official count, like the population of immigrants nationally, the homeless immigrant population is growing, according to people who interact with and serve them.

The homeless immigrant problem dates to the mid-1980s when unaccompanied youths from Central America, some as young as 9, started entering the country, said the Rev. Richard Estrada, executive director of Jovenes Inc., an outreach center and shelter for homeless immigrant youths.

"The vast majority are looking for work, and they are decent people. They want to send money home," Estrada said. "If you listen to them and hear their stories, they are not coming here because they want to abuse the social welfare system, they are simply here because they want to work."

One of those immigrants is Jose Ramirez, who entered the country illegally less than a year ago from Jalisco, Mexico.

Ramirez, 23, came to Los Angeles with a sixth-grade education. As a day laborer, he can make about $80 a day working construction jobs, far more than the $13 a day he would earn in Mexico.

He sleeps under a bridge and at Dolores Mission Church east of downtown because he can't afford to rent an apartment. He still sends half of what he earns to younger brothers in Mexico, whom he wants to stay in school and get ahead.

"I thought it would be better here," Ramirez said in Spanish. "But no matter what, life is better here than there."

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/05/21/D8HOIM000.html

"I thought it would be better here," Ramirez said in Spanish. "But no matter what, life is better here than there."

Well well well, so competition for jobs is heating up in the illegal sector.