Columbia County community opens its arms to immigrants

[Dixie]

http://www.citizensvoice.com/site/news. ... 5154&rfi=6

Columbia County community opens its arms to immigrants
BY WADE MALCOLM
STAFF WRITER
08/21/2006

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BENTON — About 40 miles northwest of a battleground in an American debate over illegal immigration, no one is talking about undocumented workers or discrimination lawsuits.

Instead, Raul Lopez, a 22-year-old Mexican immigrant, is sitting in a volunteer fire hall across the table from a group of white teenagers, eating food prepared by white women.

He is smiling and relaxed. So is his friend, 27-year-old Miquel Lopez. So are several other Hispanic immigrants scattered about the room among about 30 longtime Benton area residents.

Something unique happened Sunday afternoon in the Benton Area Volunteer Fire Hall: two communities which have been largely at odds in Northeast Pennsylvania during the past few months met on friendly terms.

The Stillwater Christian Church organized the event in Benton, a borough of about 900 in rural northern Columbia County. Mike Delp, a pastor at the church, called the gathering a “friendship meal.”

The timing of the dinner was interesting. Early last week, a group of attorneys and civil rights groups filed a lawsuit against an ordinance in Hazleton that punishes landlords for renting to illegal immigrants, forbids companies from employing them and makes English the official language.

The controversy surrounding the ordinance has deeply divided many in the city of about 30,000, largely along racial lines. Copycat ordinances have sprung up around the country. About 20 miles from Benton, Berwick is considering a similar ordinance.

Benton, too, is adjusting to an influx of Hispanic immigrants. As of six years ago, according to the 2000 census, Benton had only one Hispanic resident.

Updated census data is not yet available, but without question, Benton’s Hispanic population has grown since then. About a dozen immigrants showed up to the dinner. The church invited many others, but some are still afraid of getting too close to their mostly white neighbors.

“They’re leery,” Delp said. “They’re just not sure why we’re doing this. They seem intimidated by us so we try to invite them as graciously as we can.”

And longtime residents of Benton are not without apprehensions over immigration either, Delp said. According to the same census data, Benton is more than 99 percent white, and some members of the community took issue with flyers promoting the event, which were printed in Spanish.

“You just sense some resistance in the way they respond to you when we said we wanted to do this,” he said.

Any tension between the communities apparently evaporated inside the fire hall.

Each of the guests filled their plates with ground meat served over tortillas alongside lettuce, salsa and rice.

Adults from both communities exchanged handshakes and tried their best to interact with one another, despite the often limited overlap in their vocabularies. Most conversations didn’t go far beyond, “Hello, how are you?” But the friendly tone of voice often conveyed what was left unsaid.

Children, meanwhile, regarded their Spanish-speaking neighbors with innocent curiosity. Hannah Weidner, of Berwick, excitedly asked how to say a few simple sentences in Spanish.

“It’s so hard to remember all of it,” she said when someone told her how to say, “My brother visited Mexico” in Spanish. She and a few other children used a pen to write the newly learned words on their hands.

Raul Lopez smiled as Weidner attempted to decipher the scribbles.

“I feel happy,” he said through a translator. “And I feel better because I know people want to be friends.”

wmalcolm@citizensvoice.com
©The Citizens Voice 2006

[sippy]

Each of the guests filled their plates with ground meat served over tortillas alongside lettuce, salsa and rice.

So you have a community get together and serve mexican food. Outrageous! How about serving them hamburgers and hot dogs or some other AMERICAN food?

[CCUSA]

I don't feel sorry for these people. I truly think people like this have seen one too many mission movies! They are leaving jobs in Mexico, coming in on tourist visas and spending thousands on smugglers. They are not poor!!

Mexico is not a 3rd world country. They are not here because of humanitarian needs or asylum!


They are breaking the law!

[noyoucannot]

This is all new to the natives. When word gets out that their community is "welcoming", the illegal population will increase exponentially thus resulting in an increase in crime, overcrowded schools, strained social services, and all of the other negative effects found in every other community that has been inundated with illegals. Then the novelty will wear off and the worm will turn.

People are not against illegal immigration because they are just mean, hard-hearted individuals. There is a real reason that illegal immigration is a disaster. We here all know what those reasons are. But, people who have not yet experienced it don't always "get it." These people in this firehall are feeling real good about themselves at this point; that somehow they are morally superior to those mean spirited people in Hazelton. But, soon they will find out that they are no better than anyone else, that they must put the safety of their children first, their jobs first, their quality of life first. It will be a hard lesson, but they will learn it.

I don't say this because I WANT bad things to happen. But, these bad things will be the unavoidable consequences of illegal immigration. There is a practical reason why countries have immigration laws and procedures. And those reasons aren't due to mean-spiritedness or not wanting to welcome new people.

[Dixie]

It's real nice a pleasant when there are a few of them and no anchor babies running around. Those guys mowing your lawn will multiply!

Dixie

[sippy]

But, soon they will find out that they are no better than anyone else, that they must put the safety of their children first, their jobs first, their quality of life first. It will be a hard lesson, but they will learn it.

Noyoucannot, you are right. The minute a child is molested or someone is murdered by an illegal, they will change their minds about it.