CA-Economic Doldrums Send Some Immigrants Packing
Economic Doldrums Send Some Immigrants Packing
SOME HOPE TO RIDE IT OUT; SINGLE MEN RETURN TO HOME COUNTRIES
By Anna Gorman
Los Angeles Times
Article Launched: 09/05/2008 05:00:38 PM PDT
LOS ANGELES — For more than two years, Otoniel Lopez Cortez arrived at the day labor center before 6:30 a.m. to wait for jobs painting houses. Some weeks he earned a few hundred dollars, enough to pay his rent and bills and send money home to Guatemala.
But after four months with only one day of work, Lopez made the decision this month to return to his native country.
"I don't want to go back, but there is no work," said Lopez, 18. "It's better to be with my family, even though we don't have much."
With the ongoing economic downturn and the collapse of the construction industry, day laborers in California are feeling the effects. Some immigrant workers are choosing to go home rather than wait for a rebound.
California's unemployment rate hit 7.3 percent last month, compared with 5.4 percent the previous July. The number of construction jobs dropped by 84,000 over the previous year, according to the state Employment Development Department.
Many unemployed construction workers, including citizens and legal residents, have turned to hiring halls for work, creating more competition for daily jobs, said Abel Valenzuela, a UCLA professor who has researched day laborers across the nation. There are also fewer jobs available for dayworkers, as Californians have less disposable income for moving, remodeling, painting and landscaping.
In fact, Valenzuela said, anecdotal evidence shows that about 10 to 15 percent of
workers get hired daily, down from about 40 percent a few years ago.
On Lopez's last day, 58 workers showed up at a day laborer center near downtown Los Angeles. Only 11 got jobs. By noon, dozens of men were still waiting, passing the time by playing dominoes, watching television and practicing English with a teacher.
"Things are really drying up," prompting dayworkers to start thinking about alternatives, Valenzuela said. "One of them is, clearly, to leave the United States and head back."
The economy, along with increased border enforcement, may also be discouraging some migrants from coming to the United States. Apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border this year are 17 percent below last year's, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.
Lopez said he sneaked across the border in 2006 for the same reason as most illegal immigrants — to make a better life for himself and to earn money for his family. He also wanted to get away from the gang life that had consumed much of his youth. He came to Los Angeles, where he started attending church, studying English and making friends with other immigrant workers at the day labor center.
After deciding to leave, he sought help at the Guatemalan consulate, which gave him a bus ticket home. He cleaned out the room he had rented for $250 a month and packed his clothes, Bible, English notebooks and soccer trophy. He called his mother, who had been sick and wanted him to return.
On Aug. 22, the hiring hall — run by the Central American Resource Center -- held a farewell lunch of ceviche, rice and cake for Lopez. The other workers applauded for Lopez as director Jeronimo Salguero hugged him and presented him with a certificate honoring his work and time at the center.
Salguero said Lopez's departure was sad but not surprising. Given the choice between suffering in your own country or in another, he said, you might as well eat beans and be with your family.
The decision to leave the U.S. is not an easy one. Most undocumented immigrants pay thousands of dollars and risk dangerous journeys to get to the U.S.
Another worker at the center, Jose Morales, 38, said he also wanted to return to Guatemala but had to first pay his $5,000 smuggling debt. Before sneaking across the border last year, Morales said, he'd heard stories about plentiful work in the United States.
"Now I am seeing with my own eyes that here is the same as my country," he said.
Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California-San Diego, said his research shows that migrants who have been in the U.S. for more than one year and had close relatives living with them "intended to ride out the recession." But he said single men are a different story.
Many of those who stay in the U.S. are moving from one day labor center to another in search of work. Immigrant workers are also sending less money home. The Mexican central bank reported last month that remittances primarily from the U.S., had declined nearly 2.2 percent ig the first six months of 2008.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10392443
Re: CA-Economic Doldrums Send Some Immigrants Packing
Quote:
Another worker at the center, Jose Morales, 38, said he also wanted to return to Guatemala but had to first pay his $5,000 smuggling debt. Before sneaking across the border last year, Morales said, he'd heard stories about plentiful work in the United States.
"Now I am seeing with my own eyes that here is the same as my country," he said.
Yes, and it got this way because of the illegal aliens and their employers. Now that the tide is turning, we Americans are looking forward to the return of our nation, and the re-establishment of her dignity.
Re: CA-Economic Doldrums Send Some Immigrants Packing
Quote:
Originally Posted by melena29
Quote:
Another worker at the center, Jose Morales, 38, said he also wanted to return to Guatemala but had to first pay his $5,000 smuggling debt. Before sneaking across the border last year, Morales said, he'd heard stories about plentiful work in the United States.
"Now I am seeing with my own eyes that here is the same as my country," he said.
Yes, and it got this way because of the illegal aliens and their employers. Now that the tide is turning, we Americans are looking forward to the return of our nation, and the re-establishment of her dignity.
THESE PEOPLE ARE REALLY STUPID TO PAY SOMEONE THAT MUCH MONEY TO SMUGGLE THEM IN TO THE U.S. THEY ARE PART OF THE REASON THAT THIS COUNTRY IS IN THE SHAPE THAT IT IS IN. JUST TAKE A LOOK AT CALIFORNIA, THEY HAVE USED UP JUST ABOUT ALL OF THAT STATES REVENUE. THEY HAVE RECEIVED A LOT OF FREEBIES AT TAXPAYERS EXPENSE AND NOW THE STATE IS IN DIRE STRAITS. I CAN ONLY SAY, YOU MAKE YOUR BED HARD, YOU HAVE TO SLEEP IN IT. NOW THEY SEE THAT ROLLING OUT THE WELCOME MAT TO THOSE ILLEGALS WAS NOT THE SMARTEST THING TO DO :!:
