Thread: NC Illegal Immigrant Allowed to Retrieve Buried Savings

http://www.the-dispatch.com/apps/pbcs.d ... achetime=5
July 21. 2005 12:37AM

N.C. illegal immigrant allowed to retrieve buried savings
The Associated Press

One of the 48 illegal workers arrested this month at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base will return to Mexico richer by $31,700, thanks to his hard work and the cooperation of immigration officials.

That's the amount of money that Cristobal Chavez Torres saved in $100 bills from seven years of bone-crunching labor and buried in a well-sealed glass jar the yard of the rundown trailer he rented in Goldsboro.

Chavez, who began the bus ride home to Mexico on Wednesday, was allowed to return to the trailer to retrieve both his money and his 16-year-old son, Arturo, before he was deported.

"I didn't want to lose it," he said. "It was sweat from my brow."

Chavez, 66, has lived in the United States off and on since 1970, when he crossed the Rio Grande River in search of work. He came to North Carolina seven years ago and got a job with a private construction company after doing farm work and construction in California, Texas, Florida and Kentucky.

His son came to live with him six years ago after Arturo's mother died in Mexico.

Chavez never earned more than $7.25 an hour but was able to save, thanks to his thriftiness and stamina for long work weeks. When he had accumulated about $10,000, he decided it would be best to find a hiding spot other than the pockets of his pants. And he wanted somewhere outside his trailer.

"If there were an electrical short and my home caught on fire, I'd lose everything," said Chavez, who never tried to open a bank account because most of his documents were fake.

Randy Chambers, treasurer of the Latino Community Credit Union in Durham, said the credit union's surveys indicate that up to 80 percent of Latin American immigrants in North Carolina have never had a bank account, either in the United States or in their home countries.

Many say that they don't trust financial institutions or that bank employees don't speak their language, Chambers said. Others don't have the proper documents.

On July 6, Chavez was among 48 illegal immigrants working for private construction contractors at the Air Force base who were rounded up after a two-month investigation. He told his secret to a staff member from the Mexican Consulate in Raleigh, who had come to the jail July 8 to make sure Chavez and the other detained Mexicans were being treated fairly.

The staff member relayed the story of Chavez's treasure to Mexican Consul Armando Ortiz Rocha, who called Tom O'Connell, head of the local office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Ortiz asked whether O'Connell would consider releasing Chavez if the consulate ensured that Chavez returned to Mexico after retrieving the money. O'Connell agreed and turned Chavez over to the consulate July 11.

O'Connell said he was swayed more by the plight of Chavez's son than the money.

"The main reason was the 16-year-old kid," O'Connell said. "I don't like to leave minors unattended."

After digging up his money, Chavez turned it over to consulate authorities, who placed it in a bank account. They'll transfer the money to Chavez once he returns to Mexico.

The first thing Chavez plans to do is build a concrete house on the small plot of land he bought years ago in El Mante, his hometown in northern Mexico.

Then he'll build a cart from which to sell fresh fruit juice in the town square. He doubts that he'll add to his savings as he did in the United States.

"In Mexico, who will pay me $500 a week?" he asked.

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Thank you for this article Bbean. Ive added it to the homepage.

http://www.alipac.us/article-553-thread-1-0.html

W

what do you think they would do to one of us if we lived in Goldsboro for 7 years and did not pay city and county tax. Do you think they would let you keep the money buried in the back yard. I think not and they would charge you interest on the tax you owed.