Pork producers welcome Latino workers
'People misunderstand, and think everybody enters illegally,' senior advisor for Latino affairs Juana Watson warns.
By SETH SLABAUGH • • September 15, 2008

DANVILLE, Ind. -- Indiana pork producers learned during the recent Midwest Pork Conference that their Latino employees might mean "no" when they appear to nod their heads "yes."

Juana Watson, who is Gov. Mitch Daniels' senior advisor for Latino and immigrant affairs, gave a speech on the face and voice of Latino immigrants at the eighth annual conference.

Latinos are "well entrenched in many of our livestock operations, hold managerial and technical positions, have a terrific work ethic, are well educated and are receiving high levels of pay," said Michael Platt, executive director of Indiana Pork.

Latinos make up an estimated 40 percent of the workforce in Indiana's livestock industry. The Indiana pork industry reports that it employs 13,000 people and contributes $3 billion a year to the Indiana economy.

"People misunderstand, and think everybody enters illegally," Watson said in an interview. "It's not so. Because of the laws between the U.S. and Mexico, a lot of Latinos come to work here with agricultural permits."

Many Latinos enter the United States that way but then over-stay and become illegal, said Watson. Many others are here legally, either as U.S. citizens or because they have current work permits. So it's hard to know who's legal and who's not.

Watson, a U.S. citizen who came here from her native Mexico in 1978 when she was 21, discussed immigration laws, Latino gestures, bridging the language barrier and other topics with the pork producers, including definitions of the terms Hispanic, Latino, Chicano, Mexican American, Central American, Mexican National and burrito (little donkey).

She suggests using the term Latino rather than Hispanic (Spanish-speaking) when referring to people from areas of the Americas south of the United States where languages derived from Latin are dominant.

Latinos work in a variety of Indiana industries, including agriculture, factories, restaurants and hotels.

"Eighty-five percent of the people arriving in Indiana from Latin American countries are Mexican," Watson said. "That's why we have a Mexican consulate (in Indianapolis)."

'Law and order'

Social injustice, particularly in rural areas, is the major reason Mexicans migrate here. "It's almost impossible to succeed," Watson said. "Even with a Ph.D, I could not get a good job." She said coffee bean pickers in Vera Cruz are earning only a penny an hour.

Mexican immigrants have to learn that the United States is a country of law and order, Watson said.

"Unfortunately, related to the law, anything goes in Mexico because you can pay them," Watson said.

For example, when a motorist is stopped by the police for a traffic violation in Mexico, the motorist negotiates a payment to the officer to resolve the matter.

When she was growing up in Mexico, Watson was taught not to look at light-complected people in the eyes because dark-complected people are inferior.

If a policeman here stops a car full of Mexicans who don't look at the policeman, "the officer thinks they are shifty, but that's not the issue," Watson said.

Another example of a cultural difference, she said, is that Mexicans believe it is rude to say no, and they nod their heads "yes" as an acknowledgment that someone is talking to them, not as a sign of agreement.

Out of necessity, it's common in Mexico for fathers of large families to marry off their daughters as soon as possible, even if they're, say, 14 years old and the man about to be married is 30, Watson said.

"You have some Mexicans in jail in the United States because of that," she said.

To help protect themselves from hiring illegal workers, pork producers should send the Social Security numbers of prospective Latino employees directly to the Social Security Administration, which will respond within 24 hours, Watson said.

"It was our intent to help educate everyone that the vast majority of Latino workers are here legally, the vast majority of Latino workers have a strong work ethic, and the vast majority of Latino workers bring a richness of diversity and culture into the communities where they reside," Platt said.
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