Thread: Delaware - Reaching out to new arrivals.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/15768712.htm

Reaching out to new arrivals

While immigration stirs anger, a Delaware town has found peace.

By Paul Nussbaum
Inquirer Staff Writer


GEORGETOWN, Del. - The Guatemalans started arriving here in 1993 and 1994.

They came to work in southern Delaware's poultry-processing plants, and soon they were living 10 and 20 to a house in the rundown Kimmeytown section, wandering the quaint downtown streets after dark, and drinking in the woods.

They began to enroll their Spanish-speaking children in local schools, take their uninsured sick to the local hospital, and drive their unlicensed vehicles into locals' cars.

"People were upset and angry," said Mike Wyatt, the current mayor of Georgetown. "They were saying, 'How could this happen to our town?' "

The influx of Guatemalans hasn't stopped, but much of the animosity has waned. A dozen years of living on the front lines of America's immigration battle have brought wary acceptance, even accommodation, to this unlikely center of change.

Now Latino families are supplanting the single men who first arrived. They are opening shops and restaurants and buying homes. Hispanic elementary students here have the highest scores on standardized tests. The poultry plant in nearby Milford last week celebrated Diversity Day.

"The key is they were willing to work. People will forgive a lot if they see people are willing to work," said Carlton Moore, a local developer and community leader who is active in building housing for the immigrants. "They have filled a need. We would have a very difficult time without them."

Since 2000, Delaware ranks fifth in the nation in the percentage increase in foreign-born population, at 40.5 percent.

Driven largely by immigrants from Latin America working in poultry processing and construction, the wave of newcomers is changing the face of Delaware, especially rural southern Delaware.

In Georgetown, heart of the poultry industry, North Georgetown Elementary has become 40 percent Hispanic, and the police force spends 70 percent of its time responding to migrant-related incidents. But without the newcomers, the chicken industry would collapse and much of the local economy with it.

Georgetown is the seat of Sussex County, the nation's leading county in production of broiler chickens.

Perdue Farms Inc. employs 1,300 workers at its Georgetown plant, and 80 percent to 85 percent are immigrants or the children of immigrants, almost all from Guatemala, said Gary Miller, regional human-relations manager for the company. At Perdue's Milford plant, 60 percent to 65 percent of the 1,200 workers are immigrants from 15 nations.

Other major poultry operations in the country include Tyson Foods, Mountaire Farms and Allen Family Foods. Their trucks are a regular sight on county roads, taking live chickens in and prepared chickens out, and white chicken feathers sprinkle some roadsides like an early snowfall.

Immigrants are "essential" to the poultry business in Delaware and nearby regions of Maryland and Virginia, said Bill Satterfield, executive director of the Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc.

The work is hard, and the poultry companies say nonimmigrants aren't willing to take jobs that start at $8 an hour and rise to $9.70 an hour after an initial probationary period.

The poultry operators require workers to show documentary evidence that they're legally in the United States, and they use a voluntary federal verification program to assure eligibility. But forged documents and false names are commonplace, police and migrants say, allowing illegal workers to get jobs.

Georgetown Police Chief William Topping said his officers are trained to ask immigrants in traffic stops or other encounters for their "real name" and their "work name."

"We tell them, 'We don't care what you tell Perdue, but you need to tell us your real name,' " Topping said. His force of 18 officers now includes two Spanish speakers, and two years ago the local court instituted a Spanish arraignment night each Tuesday.

Topping said local police don't try to determine a person's immigration status. They don't accompany federal immigration agents on raids. Topping said the goal is to win the trust of the Hispanic community so crime victims are willing to work with police, without fear of being deported.

"My take is that they're not leaving. My best bet is to make them educated about the criminal justice system here, and I definitely feel like we're making headway," Topping said.

"It's difficult for a lot of our native Delawareans to understand that we can't deport them. But the issue isn't as simple as that."

Wyatt, the mayor, said many in his town have come to accept the newcomers, although some haven't. "They're very polite, very cordial, and they're hardworking, good people. The jobs weren't getting done by anyone else."

Some other Delaware towns have taken a harder line. In Elsmere, a town of 6,000 near Wilmington, a new ordinance allows police to ticket any parked vehicle with an out-of-state license whose owner has lived in Delaware more than 60 days; since Delaware has a high residency standard for issuing license plates, the ordinance is a way to ferret out illegal aliens.

And immigration has become a hot political issue in some Delaware races. Republicans John Jaremchuck, an Elsmere councilman running for the state legislature, and Jan Ting, a Temple University law professor running for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Tom Carper, have made illegal immigration prime campaign topics.

"It's not the job of the American government to supply a constant supply of low-wage workers for big businesses," said Ting, whose parents emigrated from China during World War II. "Big business loves illegal immigration because it suppresses the wages of American workers, too... . Do we care about the less-skilled, less-educated American workers?"

In Georgetown, the impact of immigration is felt acutely at North Georgetown Elementary. Principal Jim Hudson, a lifelong resident of the town, said that the lower grades were now 55 percent Hispanic, and that his school must shift resources to English Language Learner classes from such things as art and music and special reading.

"We need more support from the state," Hudson said. But he said the Guatemalan students were hard workers and quick learners who rarely presented discipline problems.

"The parents come in and they don't ask, 'How are my child's grades?' They ask, 'How is my child behaving?' " The school was just named a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education, one of three schools in the state and 250 in the country to be recognized for strong academic progress.

Many of the town's Hispanic elementary students gather after school at La Casita, on the edge of Kimmeytown, for homework help. There, one of the parent leaders, Yolanda Diaz, an undocumented Guatemalan who has been here for 13 years, said it was important that her three sons, Jesus, Edward, and Manuel, do well in school.

"I don't want them to work in a chicken plant like I do," she said. "It's hard there."


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Just more unsubstantiated propaganda and rhetoric. How about providing evidence to back up some of these claims, not just words. Hopefully, the American public is beginning to see through the illegal immigrant loving media agenda. How about you give us an honest assessment of the communites true feelings, not just the opinion of the mayor and police chief. Seems like the mayor is only interested in ensuring the local poultry plants have cheap labor. Of course we all know the police chief answers to the town council, which basically means the mayor is pulling his strings.

Hispanic elementary students here have the highest scores on standardized tests.

Higher scores than what? When saying they have the highest scores, please offer a comparison. In other words, offer something to substantiate the claim. Also, what about the middle school and high school students? Truth be known, the Hispanic elementary students your referring to are probably American citizens.

"The key is they were willing to work. People will forgive a lot if they see people are willing to work," said Carlton Moore, a local developer and community leader who is active in building housing for the immigrants. "They have filled a need. We would have a very difficult time without them."

Quotes from individuals actually benefiting financially from illegal immigrant lawbreakers are worthless in the illegal immigrant debate. The illegal immigrants are lawbreaking criminals and Mr. Moore is providing them with places to live. In collaboration with the mayor, Mr. Moor is encouraging, aiding and abetting illegal immigrants. Furthermore, it wouldn't surprise me to find out that the mayor is personally profiting financially from the illegal immigrant situation in the town too.

Perdue Farms Inc. employs 1,300 workers at its Georgetown plant, and 80 percent to 85 percent are immigrants or the children of immigrants, almost all from Guatemala, said Gary Miller, regional human-relations manager for the company. At Perdue's Milford plant, 60 percent to 65 percent of the 1,200 workers are immigrants from 15 nations.

Everyone knows these processing plants are full of illegal immigrants, why isn't ICE making them a priority? Oh, silly me, I forgot that Perdue Farms is part of corporate America.

Immigrants are "essential" to the poultry business in Delaware and nearby regions of Maryland and Virginia, said Bill Satterfield, executive director of the Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc.

Oops, another quote from someone personally responsible for exploiting illegal immigrants for financial gain.

The work is hard, and the poultry companies say nonimmigrants aren't willing to take jobs that start at $8 an hour and rise to $9.70 an hour after an initial probationary period.

I'll bet without illegal immigrant labor those jobs would be paying $12.00 an hour with benefits. As for paying a higher price at the grocery store for chicken, I doubt we would barely notice the difference. In a free-market economy these plants must remain competitive. Without illegal immigrant labor the poultry industry would improve on its processing techniques, which in effect would reduce the current massive labor needs. How did these plants ever survive without illegal immigrant labor? I'm tired of my taxes dollars subsidizing big businesses "cheap labor" work force. Who do you think is footing the medical care, dental care, educational needs, etc. for these folks living on poverty level wages? Yes, $8.00 - $9.00 an hour are poverty wages, especially when these folks are having 3, 4, and 5 children per family. Also, in most cases, the mother stays home with the kids, especially when there are non-school age children involved. Oh, and these children are receivng food stamps and medicad too. It's a huge shame these corporations and businesses are pulling on American taxpayers and its got to stop!

Topping said local police don't try to determine a person's immigration status. They don't accompany federal immigration agents on raids. Topping said the goal is to win the trust of the Hispanic community so crime victims are willing to work with police, without fear of being deported.

If they are illegal, they should fear deporation!

Wyatt, the mayor, said many in his town have come to accept the newcomers, although some haven't. "They're very polite, very cordial, and they're hardworking, good people. The jobs weren't getting done by anyone else."

That is pure B.S. The jobs were getting done before illegal immigration became a huge problem. How come the American public never heard anything about a labor shortage prior to the crazy influx of illegal immigrants we've receiving for the last 5-6 years?

Here's the deal in a nutshell. All the "cheap labor" has given these companies reason to grow (growth + increased production = profits). Unfortunately these companies aren't using their aded profits to pay a living wage, which leaves us, the American citizen taxpayers, making up the difference.

Have you noticed, most of these companies may speak about the wages they pay, but none of them ever speak about benefits. You can't pay rent, buy food for a family, cloth a family, take care of a familes medical and dental needs, pay utilities, provide transportation, pay for childrens school needs, etc. on $8.00 to $9.00 an hour. It just can't be done!

"It's not the job of the American government to supply a constant supply of low-wage workers for big businesses," said Ting, whose parents emigrated from China during World War II. "Big business loves illegal immigration because it suppresses the wages of American workers, too... . Do we care about the less-skilled, less-educated American workers?"

No Mr. Ting, the government and big business does not care about the "less-skilled, less-educated American workers." Hopefully you will be elected in November and can help fix the problem.

Many of the town's Hispanic elementary students gather after school at La Casita, on the edge of Kimmeytown, for homework help. There, one of the parent leaders, Yolanda Diaz, an undocumented Guatemalan who has been here for 13 years, said it was important that her three sons, Jesus, Edward, and Manuel, do well in school.

"I don't want them to work in a chicken plant like I do," she said. "It's hard there."

Oh no, we wouldn't want those children working in a chicken plant! Let's educate them on American taxpayer dollars so they can someday run for political office.

Great job MW!

With the exception of two years in Indiana, I have lived in Delaware all my life, and the people quoted in this article seem to be suffering from collective amnesia! When my stepson was in attending college in Georgetown (Del Tech) 7 years ago, it was your average American blue collar town and Purdue employed much of the local population. When I saw it again, last spring, I was absolutely SHOCKED at the transformation! The entire town appeared to have have been replaced by one south of the border...I kid you not.

Have you noticed, most of these companies may speak about the wages they pay, but none of them ever speak about benefits. You can't pay rent, buy food for a family, cloth a family, take care of a familes medical and dental needs, pay utilities, provide transportation, pay for childrens school needs, etc. on $8.00 to $9.00 an hour. It just can't be done!

Like Wal-Mart, I'm sure Purdue has some of it's HR people instructing employees how take advantage of taxpayer funded benefits.

No Mr. Ting, the government and big business does not care about the "less-skilled, less-educated American workers." Hopefully you will be elected in November and can help fix the problem.

Amen!