Thread: "Immigrants" riding out bad economy

Immigrants riding out bad economy
Few Mid-South Hispanics returning to Mexico despite jobs decline

By Daniel Connolly (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Saturday, December 27, 2008

Despite the economic crisis and December being the time that many Hispanic immigrants make the trek home for the holidays, there doesn't appear to be an exodus from the Mid-South.

Observers say that travel costs are high and, probably more important, many immigrants would face limited job prospects in the poor countries they left.

That's not to say more people won't go. Mexican foreign minister Patricia Espinosa has said large numbers of her countrymen might come home, and some have already made the leap.

In the Mexican town of San Jose de Lourdes, Rogelio Ortiz told a USA Today reporter that he had returned from Memphis for a visit and stayed.

"Why go back now? There's no work," he said.

Solid statistics don't exist, but interviews suggest cases like this are relatively rare. The number of children of immigrants enrolled in Memphis City Schools is up this semester, and there was no sign of a decrease before the holidays, said Andrew Duck, supervisor of the system's English as a Second Language program.

There has been no increase in applications for permits to transport household goods into Mexico, a step many people returning home would make, said Andres Chao, who runs the Mexican consulate in Little Rock and whose district covers Memphis.

He said Mexico's economy is not strong, and that it is much more likely that immigrants who have lost jobs would move to other places within the United States.

Such movement is bringing some immigrants to Memphis. For instance, Jacobo Perez Ramirez says he brought his wife, daughter and a grandchild to Memphis in September after he lost his job as a printer's assistant at a Chinese newspaper publisher in Los Angeles and heard there was work here.

The 59-year-old is originally from Mexico's Tlaxcala state and has been in the U.S. since 1979. He's still looking for steady work while the family stays at a friend's house. He has applied at a staffing agency and helps out at a restaurant the friend runs. He said he expects to lose his house in California because he can't make mortgage payments.

"If there's progress, we'll stay here," he said. "If not, return to Mexico."

He doesn't expect a quick turnaround.

"This country will need more than five years to recover."

A substantial percentage of immigrants in the Memphis area are here illegally, the legacy of years of successful business lobbying against enforcement of immigration laws.

Father Carlos Monroy, who runs Hispanic ministries for the Catholic Diocese of Memphis, predicts many immigrants will stay as long as they can and are hoping Barack Obama's election will bring an amnesty program like the one passed in 1986.

Efforts to pass a legalization program and related measures failed in 2006 and 2007, and the federal government is arresting more illegal immigrants in the interior of the country.

Arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border dropped 39 percent between 2005 and 2008, likely because of a combination of heavier patrols and because potential illegal immigrants believe they won't find jobs.

Such statistics encourage supporters of increased enforcement.

However, the economy, not enforcement, appears to be the most powerful factor causing immigrants to think about leaving.

Take the impact of the financial crisis on the construction industry, which in Memphis is dominated by immigrants from Mexico and Central America. In the important home-building sector, the number of permits issued in Shelby County in the past 12 months is the lowest since the 1970s, according to Chandler Reports.

Many construction workers have seen their hours cut or have lost their jobs.

Immigrants' hard times are affecting businesses that cater to them. On a recent Friday night, Dalia Gomez was behind the counter at U-Fashion, a store that sells brightly colored evening gowns and other women's clothes in El Mercadito de Memphis, a Hispanic shopping mall in Hickory Hill.

The 29-year-old Mexican immigrant owns the shop with her husband, and said many of her female clients work in warehouses. They report that there's less work, and some say they're leaving -- she has heard a store nearby is selling lots of suitcases. Gomez says her sales have dropped from about $2,000 to $2,500 per week last year to $500 to $600 now.

She's cutting prices and giving away free items like flip-flops, while her husband's day job as a plumber helps the household budget.

She has hope that the business will stay afloat because the mall has several shops in the same place to attract customers.

"We want to continue," she said.

Hispanics in Memphis

Shelby County's Hispanic population stood just under 35,000 in 2006, or about 4 percent of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That's up from nearly zero 15 years earlier.

A study by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation concluded that in Arkansas, just over half of all immigrants -- not just Hispanics -- were in the nation illegally.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... d-economy/

Duplicate Post

Immigrants riding out bad economy

First of all, they are NOT IMMIGRANTS!!! THEY ARE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS!
America likes immigrants.

It doesn't matter if there's work or not. As long as they keep getting welfare, food stamps, free medical, etc., they'll never leave unless they're caught.

Duplicate Post: Please make further comments at link provided...thank you!

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-141484.html