Thread: Illegal immigrant turned millionaire fighting to change laws

www.nashuatelegraph.com

Article published Oct 7, 2005
Illegal immigrant turned millionaire fighting to change border laws

By NIKITA STEWART
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON – He sneaked over the U.S. border with an alias, forged papers and what he calls “a whole lot of lies.’’

First he cadged day jobs in Los Angeles, then in this area, where he stood in parking lots waiting for contractors to hire him.

When he had enough cash, he slipped his wife into the country as well.

His story could be that of any number of Salvadorans in suburban Northern Virginia today, waiting in the morning at a 7-Eleven for a construction job. Except that Carlos Castro is now a millionaire who dines with politicians and sits on various civic boards mainly through the success of his brainchild: Todos Supermarkets.

These two sprawling suburban emporiums stock ethnic foods and clothing; cash checks for customers; and sell insurance. One includes a quick-service restaurant specializing in pupusas and gorditas.

The two stores, along with a check-cashing operation and a small gift shop, employ 86 people and generated $9.4 million in sales last year. The Virginia Chamber of Commerce this year named Todos one of its Fantastic 50, an annual honor roll recognizing the state’s fastest-growing businesses.

Castro, now a U.S. citizen, admits his past of nearly three decades ago. “Of course, we broke the law . . . . We came and found jobs and worked,� said Castro, 51. “It’s my reality. I cannot hide from it.�

But his success, he said, is proof that with hard work and luck, those waiting at a 7-Eleven for a job can make it.

“I tell people my story so they know day laborers can do more than janitorial jobs, construction. I made it,� he said.

Castro said the best way to change the perception of immigrants and to change laws to legally open U.S. borders to more of them is by telling his story to the recipients of his frequent donations – from charitable organizations to Republican and Democratic candidates who tap him for contributions.

It’s a message he is eager to spread now that the issue of day laborers is roiling area communities and immigration is sparking controversy in the Virginia governor’s race.

He sympathizes with day laborers but questions the use of taxpayer money to help undocumented ones. And he admits to mixed feelings on the issue, conceding that, yes, some Hispanic men are loitering, not just waiting for jobs. Even he shoos laborers from the parking lots of his stores.

“The one thing that makes me ambivalent is that I’ve been there. Some are just hanging out. If we have only the good people, I would say, yes, let’s do it,’’ he said. “It’s a very complex issue. Within the same community . . . there is discontent . . . . Now, you are talking about Hispanic people complaining about Hispanic people.�

For those reasons, he does not support a local town council’s recent decision to spend taxpayer money on a dedicated site for day laborers, he said. But that doesn’t mean day laborers should be vilified and used as a campaign issue. It’s a precarious position: rising to the top and being caught in the middle.A dream come true
“In a way, this is what I dreamed of,� Castro said in the scenic back yard of his six-bedroom, lakefront home in suburban Woodbridge, Va.

Castro, one of seven children, grew up poor in San Salvador. His father, a construction worker, did his best to fix up their small house. “The neighbors made fun of us. They called it the ‘cardboard house,’� he said. “The front door came from a church my father had worked on. . . . The home had no glass in the windows, but we still locked the door each night.�

Work came first and education second, so he went to high school at night. “I looked at it as a dream. I was first in my class. I think I worked hard for this,� he said, twisting the high school class ring he still wears on his left hand. A gold band encrusted with diamonds is on the right; a gold stickpin, topped by a diamond-tipped C, adorns his tie. A gold watch jangles on his left wrist. “It just looks expensive,� he said, recalling that he paid $85 for it at Costco.

Castro was studying engineering at National University in San Salvador, then embarking on a civil war that would last 12 years. A family friend suggested he think about going to the United States.

Castro and a cousin decided to go for it in 1979, and Castro left behind a daughter from a previous relationship, a 1-year-old son and his wife, Gladis.

The two men were caught and spent nearly seven weeks in an El Paso jail. He said he volunteered to clean the jail and was paid $1 a day. “Those 48 days were the most positive of my life,� Castro said. “I had the time to think about my child and my wife, what to do next.�

Upon his release, he lied and said he was from Mexico, so he would be deported no farther than the border country. In Guadalajara, he and his cousin met a professor who gave them documents saying they were university students, he said. His new name was Carlos Escovera.

They trekked over mountains, getting lost and paying $600 each to a gun-toting “coyote,� a person who smuggles immigrants out of Mexico, to get them to Los Angeles in March 1980. A month later, he came to Washington. After a number of dishwashing jobs, he hit the street as a day laborer. With his experience in construction and some knowledge of engineering, he quickly gained a reputation among developers.

“I’m not surprised that he is where he is today,� said developer Sam Dunn, who sponsored work visas for Carlos and Gladis, who entered the country illegally in 1982. Later that year, their son, Carlos Jr., arrived legally.Giving back
Developers encouraged Castro to venture out on his own. As his renovation career began to thrive, Castro longed to do something more and wanted his wife to stop cleaning houses.

“Carlos dreams big,� Gladis Castro said on a tour of the Todos in suburban Alexandria, Va.

Castro juggled three jobs: construction worker, real estate agent and grocery entrepreneur.

He created a family business that now includes Carlos Jr., 26, and daughter Gina, 19. Daniel, 8, fluttered around his father at the suburban Woodbridge, Va., store during the summer.

But Castro was a novice in the grocery business, and by 1998, he was nearly bankrupt. Gwen Cody, a colleague in his real estate business, asked how much he needed.

“ ‘Is that all?’ she said. ‘Here, go fix your business,’ � handing him a $30,000 check, Castro recalled.

Cody said Castro’s magnetism assured her she would get her money back and then some.

“I asked him to speak to my Rotary Club. I titled his talk, ‘From Wetback to Millionaire.’ Isn’t that racy? I did this to shake up my Rotary Club,’’ she said. “After the speech, we offered him a cup or a pen, and you know what he did? He gave us a check for our Annandale Rotary Club foundation for $1,000.’’

Castro said he tries to give back. “My father always said, ‘When you do something for someone, you are really doing something for yourself,’� he said. “Most of the people in management (at Todos) come from the bottom.�

Yet he struggles with his ambivalence on immigration issues.

Times have changed a bit, he said. In 1980, people welcomed him, for the most part. He also said he has hired illegal immigrants and has sponsored them for visas. But stricter laws have stopped that practice, and he said he wants those laws changed.

Now, as more immigrants arrive in the suburbs, tolerance seems to be vanishing, Castro said. He said he is appalled at the anti-immigrant sentiment growing in Virginia.

“The candidates – they use this to get into office,� said Castro, who contributes to Democrats and Republicans.

Giving illegal immigrants a chance could mean big returns for U.S. society, he said. He makes his spiel at Republican and Democratic fundraisers one handshake at a time: “We have to make a difference in the way they think, the way they feel and the way they look at people. We have to reach out to the heart of people.�

In the Bay Area, we have a former illegal alien -- Ignacio De La Fuentes Sr -- who is now the front-runner in the race for mayor of Oakland. However, his candidacy took a direct hit recently when his son, Ignacio De La Fuentes Jr, was arrested for kidnapping a 15-year-old girl right off the street, raping and beating her for several hours, and then dumping her body back out on the sidewalk. Junior was later charged with a second sexual assault on a 21-year-old woman when the cops did a "cold hit" of his DNA and matched him to a previous assault. And this specimen, De La Fuentes Sr, is apparently considered the best that Oakland has to offer.

I get so disgusted with our government and the participants in the smuggling trade when I read these wannabe novelists writing this trash. It is not romantic to be a smugglers contraband. even if you survive it, and profit by it. Someone loses somewhere.