Kelli Cardinal/The Lima News
Michael Balcarcel, 7, of Leipsic, Ohio, plays with his toys recently underneath the wooden church pews during a Wednesday night worship service at Fuente de Vida in Leipsic.


Stirring the pot

November 26,2006
Bart Mills

Hispanic movement to America’s heartland can’t be ignored

In June 2005, the sheriff’s office in western Ohio visited many Hispanic families’ homes, attempting to help find Alfredo Cruz, a man suspected of raping a 9-year-old girl.

Then on July 24, three illegal immigrants died in a car accident police say drunken driver Victor Anaya caused. He was illegally living in the United States.

"We ultimately are bumping into them every day we have our officers out there doing enforcement efforts," Beck said. "They have the same problems as American citizens do.

"They speed. They have problems with their vehicles. They have domestic violence (crimes)."

"Look around; it’s here. There are five, 10, maybe 20 times more immigrants here than there were 10 or 15 years ago," said Danny Hernandez, a second-generation Mexican-American who has lived in Lima for 10 years. "It’s not something that’s going to happen; it’s something that has happened."

A ‘Press Two’ Planet

Hernandez has watched the steady stream of immigrants roll into the region. It has just been the past year or so that he discovered he’s not the only one taking note.

"I see it because I’m Mexican. I walk through Wal-Mart, they say ‘hola,’" Hernandez said.

"But most people, they just don’t even think about it. It wasn’t until Beck started talking about it that suddenly everybody was talking about Mexicans."

Beck launched his very public campaign to deal with what he considered a problem with illegal immigrants in Allen County more than a year ago.

As of Sept. 8, Beck’s agency has transported 39 illegal immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation.

More than anything, Beck made people aware of the growing number of immigrants in the community. That awareness takes on a variety of faces.

"It can bring out good, like with the churches and some of the work they are doing, and it can bring out bad," Hernandez said. "You get people looking for a reason to hate somebody.

"Suddenly, you call the cable company, and it tells you to press two for Spanish, and this guy’s going to hate every Mexican he sees.

"I say, ‘Get used to it buddy, this is a press-two planet.’"

THEY’RE HERE, NOW WHAT?

There is some debate over exactly how many immigrants live in this region of Ohio.

Portions of Putnam and Mercer counties have been home to fairly large Hispanic communities for decades, a result of generations of migrant labor coming to work the fields. In Allen County, the numbers appear to have shot up in the last few years, reflecting a larger, national trend.

Since 1990, the Hispanic population in the United States has increased from 22.4 million to 39 million. While the 2000 Census estimates the Hispanic population of Allen County at about 1.4 percent, or about 1,500, some local estimates are much higher, closer to 4,000.

Just as the number of Hispanics differs across the region, so does the way locals deal with them.

In communities such as Leipsic, with its large and active Hispanic community, immigrants — legal and otherwise — are largely ignored. In the 2000 Census, 14.7 percent of the people living in the Leipsic ZIP code were Hispanic.

"I can honestly say that I stopped seeing colors years ago," said Leipsic Mayor Kevin Benton, 44. "My best friend is Hispanic. I actually had to look and ask other people about this."

In Allen County, where the sheriff has become a national celebrity of sorts for his campaign against illegal immigrants, the attitude is different.

"I will say I think (Hispanic immigrants) are leaving Lima now because they don’t feel safe," Hernandez said. "There is a lot of sort of hatred out there right now over immigrants, especially Mexicans.

"All the talk about it in the news and with Congress and all, it makes a problem out of something that wasn’t really a problem."

A NATION OF IMMIGRANTS

Whether the reasons are political, social or economic, the truth is the same: Whenever there’s immigration, the people already there will have a problem with those moving in.

"If people believe that a new group threatens wages, jobs or a community’s economy, they are likely to say, ‘Keep those people out. Send them home,’" said David Adams, a former Lima city council member and sociology professor at Ohio State University-Lima. "My mother remembered when help-wanted signs in shop windows said, ‘No Irish need apply.’

"The irony is we’re all immigrants here; the only difference is when we came. Italian, German and Irish laborers dug the region out of the Black Swamp. It was just 50 to 80 years ago that the Delta Migration brought thousands of black families up from the South.

"The steady flow of Indians, Koreans, Africans and Europeans who came to work at our hospitals and colleges has been ceaseless. And while we still have plenty of bigotry, we are fairly well integrated."

Adams believes that integration can happen again.

"Members of different groups are likely to overcome their prejudices when they meet as equals to cooperate in reaching a common goal. Integrated sports teams are an example, as are military units and some religious groups," Adams said.

"On the other hand, if members of different groups meet only as unequal economic competitors, mutual prejudices are likely to continue."

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Monitor Staff Writer Andres R. Martinez; Lima News reporters Heather Rutz and Greg Sowinski; and Lima News Editor David Trinko contributed to this story. For this and other stories visit www.themonitor.com.

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