Thread: FL- Leaving Sorrento: Why are Hispanics moving away?

Leaving Sorrento: Why are Hispanics moving away?
Martin E. Comas | Sentinel Staff Writer
August 3, 2008
SORRENTO - Four months ago, the tables at the El Mercadito Del Pueblo Mexican restaurant off State Road 46 were filled with diners, many of them Hispanics.

Others sat on benches outside sipping drinks and chatting in Spanish. At a laundromat a few doors away, people busily stuffed clothes into washing machines and dryers.

And in almost every public meeting place in this tiny east Lake County community, the Spanish conversations revolved around how Lake County deputy sheriffs were unfairly targeting Hispanics in Sorrento with stepped-up patrols after a deputy was beaten by an angry mob of partygoers.

But today, the atmosphere in Sorrento is different.



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Immigration concerns weigh heavily in Lake sheriff's race Walk into El Mercadito at noon, and you will find many of the tables empty. Hardly anyone sits on the benches outside, and the laundromat is quiet. It's rare to find anyone who speaks Spanish in the small shopping center now.

Some say many Hispanics have left because of the downturn in the economy and the lack of construction jobs.

Others say Hispanics have moved to other areas to avoid being pulled over by Lake County deputies.

"It can be a combination of the economy and the sheriff's crackdown," said Tirso Moreno, an Apopka coordinator for the Farmworker Association of Florida, who has frequently spoken out against the actions of Sheriff Gary Borders' deputies in Sorrento. "But frankly we don't know what is happening. . . . In that area, it's known that they're [deputies] arresting people and having them deported."

After a Lake County deputy was beaten by an angry mob in March while responding to a loud-party complaint, the Sheriff's Office increased patrols in Sorrento. In the following months, deputies arrested hundreds of people -- mostly in Sorrento -- suspected of being illegal immigrants. Many of those booked into the Lake County Jail were held for traffic misdemeanors, such as driving without a license.

Sheriff's officials repeatedly have said they are not singling out Hispanics or profiling. Borders said his deputies "are looking for illegal immigrants who are breaking the law."

Still, the sheriff's actions quickly riled many in this community. In April, more than 100 Hispanics -- most of them of Mexican descent -- gathered for a community meeting in the parking lot of El Mercadito restaurant. Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida passed out forms, asking those stopped by Lake deputies to write down what happened.

"I do think that his [Borders'] policy against immigrants is affecting everybody in Sorrento and has forced many people to move away," said one man in Spanish this week while buying groceries at a Sorrento store. He gave his name only as Juan.

Others in Sorrento aren't so sure.

Juan Carinos, who owns a Western-wear store and beauty salon with his wife on State Road 46, said the slowdown of home building in Lake County has forced many Sorrento residents to leave.

"It's the economy. There's just no work right now," he said in Spanish while sitting in his shop.

Others have moved out of state or back to their native Mexico to find work, Carinos said.

But Lucas Cirilo, a Sorrento resident for 14 years, said many Hispanics fear Lake's deputies and have sought communities where they think they will be left alone.

"They are scared. They are still very afraid," he said. "And many of them are going to Apopka, Ocoee and Winter Garden."


Martin E. Comas can be reached at mcomas@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5927.



http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/loc ... 1987.story

When you come here solely for money and freebies and those elements dry-up......why else would you stay? They aren't abused or opressed as they might want you to believe.

Well, it looks like they're leaving and it's no coincidence that it follows the crack-down by the local Sheriff's Office.

Come on Sheriffs. Get R Done.

If every government, local, state, and federal would start cracking down on illegals (not just the ones who have criminal records or commit some heinous crime, but also those that broke the law by coming here illegally) maybe Americans could get their jobs back.

Wonderful news! I love stories like this!

Originally Posted by crazybird

When you come here solely for money and freebies and those elements dry-up......why else would you stay? They aren't abused or opressed as they might want you to believe.

Right again CB!

Others have moved out of state or back to their native Mexico to find work, Carinos said.

Ha! Thats a switch! I AM GLAD THEY ARE GOING HOME!