Presumed illegal -- it's scary

At the Hispanic Family Center off Raleigh's Brentwood Road, the nation's roiling debate over immigration is far from abstract.
The center, a project of Catholic Charities, shares cramped space just off the Beltline with a bustling food bank. On any Monday to Saturday, it is like Grand Central Station.

Families wait to meet with counselors. GED and English language classes hum with activity. And the air is rich with the smells of the ripe produce heading out the door.

These days, though, there is something new in the air:

Fear.

Consuelo Kwee, program director of the center, said she has never seen the atmosphere so tense in the 11 years since she started the center.

"Everyone we work with is presumed to be illegal until proven otherwise," she said.

To Kwee -- and to many of us -- that translates into a de facto demonization of an entire race.

"They look at you -- the brown skin, the dark eyes," Kwee said. "They have a complete portrait in mind."

Maybe that's why there are more cheers than jeers for Beaufort County, where officials are trying to cut off services to undocumented immigrants. One county commissioner refers to Hispanics unapologetically as MOD EDIT. Nice.

Another local luminary suggested counting the number of Hispanic surnames in the county -- the idea being that if they have a Hispanic-sounding last name, they must be illegal, right?

Recently, when an alleged drunken driver who was Hispanic killed three young people in a heinous wreck on the Beltline, I wasn't surprised to hear from readers asking about the driver's legal status. His case did end up being flagged by ICE.

What troubled me was the number of calls about the legal status of the victims, who also were Hispanic.

They were victims; they were dead. Yet I guess our sympathy is reserved only for those with documents?

Kwee said she is not surprised so many immigrants are making sure their passports are up to date. She told the story of one family, with proper documentation, who came to her in a panic after the police conducted a raid at their mobile home park. The family had lived in this area for more than 10 years; no one in their home had done anything wrong.

But they were so traumatized by the event, Kwee said, they packed up and moved back to Mexico. For keeps.

Of course, that's exactly what the anti-immigrant crowd wants.

It's an age-old pattern. Bring in cheap labor from another country, work 'em to death, then demonize them as the "other" when the economy tightens up. It happened to the Italians, the Chinese and, my ancestors, the Irish.

Now, Hispanic immigrants are on the hot seat. They're an easy target -- just presume they're all undocumented.

Kwee said she has struggled to make sense of the situation.

"I'm not very much into politics; I'm a social worker," she said.

But in her 22 years living in North Carolina, she has seen the region flower.

"Now you see this beautiful city, the tall buildings, the million-dollar homes," she said. "They were built by immigrant hands."

Kwee likened the current situation to a front door. It may have been hung by the Hispanic workers she sees at the center.

"Now it's being slammed in their faces," she said. " 'We don't need you anymore.' "


ruth.sheehan@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4828




http://www.newsobserver.com/138/story/1119468.html