Lowcountry Immigrants Fearful

Friday May 19, 2006 5:13pm Reporter: Kelsey Kirkpatrick Posted By: Kelsey Kirkpatrick


Charleston, SC -

All in one week, an officer shoots a migrant on the US-Mexico border. And here at home, a fatal police chase sends a Hispanic man slamming his car into a tree. The man was carrying only a Mexican ID and no other documentation has been found on him.



Josefina Alonso moved to Charleston from Mexico 22 years ago, and she says Hispanics with families are the ones most scared, because they don’t want to be deported and separated from their families.



“I see people staying home more,” she says. “They’re not going out, they’re not working as much. I’ve talked to several friends that have nightclubs here in Charleston, and they’re not as busy as they used to be.”



They say they're scared of some of the tough talk they are hearing.



The federal government is proposing 370 miles of fences on the border, along with national guard troops patrolling it. And although they may be far from the border, South Carolina immigrants are listening.



“Let them come out of the shadow,” suggests U.S.

Senator Lindsey Graham, who represents South Carolina. “[They should] start paying taxes, make them pay a fine, require them to take an English exam and if they commit a crime, they will be deported.”



Sen.

Graham says it will take 18 months to document all of the undocumented workers, but he is proposing the U.S. does just that. He wants migrant workers to have a tamper-proof identification card that will document the workers.



Already, some may be coming out of the shadows. Alonso says where she files taxes, she is seeing more Hispanics coming to file.



“A lot of people are starting to do their taxes,” she says. “So they can have proof that they’ve been here within the last five years.”



But she says, the more the government scares away Hispanics, the more the U.S. economy will suffer from their lost business.



“A lot of people are keeping their money in their pocket, just incase,” she says. They don’t want to invest anymore, buy cars, and that’s kind of hurting the United States.”



Here in Charleston, city officials are trying to find ways to make the Hispanic community feel more comfortable, and at home. They are working with areas like New York and Washington, D.C. to put together a resource list for Hispanic community members. They say their dispatch officers will offer them to any Spanish-speaking person who needs help.
http://www.abcnews4.com/news/stories/0506/329324.html