Thread: Many undocumented immigrants leaving Long Island

Many undocumented immigrants leaving Long Island
BY DAVE MARCUS
dave.marcus@newsday.com
August 7, 2008

While lawmakers debate measures to reduce the number of undocumented immigrants on Long Island, something unexpected is happening: Some immigrants are leaving, not because of legislation, but because of the economy.

By the dozens, and possibly by the hundreds, immigrants are moving to the South, and even back to their countries in Central America. That, at least, is the conclusion of academic experts, church workers, contractors and the immigrants themselves.

Precise local numbers are difficult to compile because undocumented workers live in the shadows, eluding census takers, landlords and others. But from Glen Cove to Greenport, some of those shadow inhabitants are missing.

"Work has dried up, and you can't afford to live here if you don't have money coming in regularly," said Jose Maldonado, 33, a carpenter and roof installer from Honduras who has lived in Huntington Station for five years. Maldonado said he can find work every other day at best, which makes it increasingly tough to pay $500 for the bedroom with no bathroom he shares with another worker.

Maldonado pointed to the shoulder of Depot Road, where crowds of Central Americans used to look for day jobs. He ticked off names of those who have left this year: Vinny moved to Charlotte, N.C. Javier went to Miami.

"Atlanta, Georgia -- that's where I'm going," Maldonado said.

"L.A.," said his friend Arnold Contreras, 32, a painter. "They say there's more jobs in L.A."

Drop in work hours

Those who have frequent contact with immigrants were the first to notice changing immigration patterns in the past year.

"When I came out here 11 years ago, guys were thrilled because they were working 80 hours a week," said Sister Margaret Smyth, who helps undocumented workers in the North Fork Parish Outreach in Riverhead. "Now they're lucky if they get 30 or 40 hours a week. They go to North Carolina, Alabama -- anyplace they have work."

Four times in the past three months, she said, she bought tickets to Guatemala and Honduras for workers desperate to rejoin their families. "Some of the men are so broke that they have no money to leave."

Many say they stay only because of hobbled economies back home. Victor Manuel, 24, who finds day jobs in Roslyn Heights, used to earn enough to send nearly $1,000 a month to his wife and four daughters in Guatemala.

Now he barely covers the $300 rent for his shared apartment. "I'll stay as long as I can still help my family," he said, "because things are even worse back home."

Not everyone sees a change. Leaders of Catholic Charities say they haven't seen a drop in the number of immigrants. And Dr. Andrew Sama, chairman of emergency medicine for the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, said the number of indigent patients treated in emergency rooms hasn't fluctuated in the past couple of years. Emergency rooms, which aren't allowed to ask about citizenship, are often the first resort for those without insurance.

Still, Homeland Security estimates the number of undocumented residents in New York State rose for four years, then dropped slightly last year, from 1.26 million to 1.05 million. Seth Forman, chief planner for the Long Island Regional Planning Board, said estimates derived from census data and other sources show the Island's population of undocumented residents rose to a high of 113,683 in 2005, then fell to 107,838 in 2006. Last year's figures aren't available.

"Whenever there are fewer jobs available, especially in low-wage service industries like restaurants, contracting and lawn service, fewer illegal immigrant job seekers are attracted to the region," Forman said.

Store has fewer customers

Earlier this month, Bob Ismael looked out the window of his Huntington Station store, past the signs advertising money transfers to Central America. Just three years ago, business was so good he added six phone booths to the five he had so that customers could call faraway family members.

Now the 11 booths are empty; wire transfers have plummeted 80 percent in two years, he said. Many of the immigrants who once came to buy cell phones or have documents translated have left.

Throughout neighborhoods where immigrants gather, shopkeepers feel the pinch. At the Community Supermarket in Huntington Station, manager Erica Tineo said the grocery business remains constant, but money transfers to Latin America have dropped by 20 to 25 percent in the past year.

In interviews, most immigrants who plan to leave blame a shortage of jobs and the Island's high cost of living. But a few in Suffolk cited another factor: efforts by County Executive Steve Levy and other politicians to crack down on immigrants without documents. In June, Suffolk lawmakers approved a bill for a pilot program requiring contractors doing county work to check new employees' working status through the E-Verify system.

"I agree it's mostly the economy, but our policies may have persuaded many of those here illegally to go elsewhere," Levy said yesterday.

Ruth Trujillo, an organizer for Human Solidarity, a nonprofit organization that helps immigrants in Farmingville, said some laborers are leaving Long Island because of anti-immigrant hostility. "Some of the workers I spoke with were pretty fearful of what could happen," Trujillo said.

Economy and enforcement

In a controversial report last week, the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C. group that wants tighter border control, estimated the undocumented population dropped 11 percent in the past year. "The findings of the study reaffirm what ICE has heard anecdotally about illegal aliens leaving on their own," said Harold Ort, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement.

In one key indicator, money sent home by Mexican migrants in the United States dropped by 2.2 percent in the first six months of 2008, Mexico's central bank said.

Those who track population changes say some states that were friendly to undocumented workers have turned hostile. Until 2007, waves of undocumented Hispanics from New York moved to North Carolina, said Rafael Prieto, editor of a Spanish-language weekly newspaper in Charlotte, N.C. "A $150,000 house in Charlotte would cost $350,000 or $400,000 in Long Island."

But in the past year, he said, a crackdown on undocumented workers has reduced the flow.
newsday.com/news/local/ny-ligone0807,0,3461722.story

There is hope for some regions after all. I hope this "illegal labor bubble" is about to burst. I know that we will have to tighten our belts and mow our own lawns, perhaps even clean our hotel rooms for a discount. Good for Long Island and good post, Zeezil.

Long Island...my home town....I knew it when........

I think they are just going to New Haven, CT.

Dixie

Ruth Trujillo, an organizer for Human Solidarity, a nonprofit organization that helps immigrants in Farmingville, said some laborers are leaving Long Island because of anti-immigrant hostility. "Some of the workers I spoke with were pretty fearful of what could happen," Trujillo said.

Then they'd better stick to sanctuary cities. But then again, when millions more illegal aliens arrive in sanctuary cities, won't be long til those taxpayers yank the welcome mat.

KEEP GOING OUT OF HERE; AND I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE SCHOOLS NOT OVER POPULATED; AMERICAN CITIZEN BACK TO WORK; HOSPITAL WITH LESS OF WAITING LINE; FEWER TO DODGE ON THE ROAD; MORE TAX PAYER MONEY GIVEN BACK TO US - AMERICAN; AND ONCE AGAIN MAYBE WE CAN GET BACK TO TAKING CARE OF OUR COUNTRY'S NEEDS

Yes, it will be wonderful when we can focus on the needs of the American People again.

Keep the pressure on, and one day we'll have our country back.

Please don't come to North Carolina. Jobs are drying up here too...