Thread: Are We Importing Corruption?

March 5, 2007

COMMENTARY: Are We Importing Corruption?

By Tom Proebsting
Special to HNN

As America lets in thousands of illegal immigrants every year, what else are we letting in?

It is true that most of the undocumented workers labor hard, usually accepting lower wages than domestic workers doing similar jobs. I am sure that most of them mind their own business and obey the law. But what are some of the unintended consequences of the millions of illegal immigrants living and working in the U.S.? Or, as others might ask, what are the results of the Mexican Invasion of the Great Southwest?

Estimates of the number of illegal aliens living in America today range from 4 to 20 million, but are realistically closer to 10 million. It is thought that most Mexicans leave their country because of the high unemployment and the pandemic corruption there. However, are they bringing some of their corruption into the United States?

The LA Weekly ran an article last February entitled “The Town the Law Forgot.” It highlighted the city of Cudahy, a suburb of Los Angeles, which is run like a Mexican town. Cudahy is beset by political corruption, illegal drugs, trafficking, gangs, the Mexican Mafia, blight, violence, rampant car theft, high unemployment, poverty, and density.

Much like towns south of the border.

The Cudahy city manager is George Perez, a janitor-turned-city council member. It appears that nobody told him he no longer lives in Mexico. His methods of running Cudahy -- a crowded town of 28,000 in a 1.2 square mile area -- are much like that of a Mexican overlord.

As soon as he was appointed city manager, his salary jumped from $30,000 to $120,000. He lives in a $700,000 home in Cudahy. Most residents of the little town do not even make $30,000 a year.

The Los Angeles District Attorney’s office investigated the questionable ascent of Perez on the basis of a criminal conflict-of-interest law. Prior to his sudden promotion to city manager, the Cudahy city council had passed a law conveniently removing the clause which had required Perez to remain on the city council at least a year before being promoted. He was on the city council less than a year before his move up. The DA was forced to drop the case as they could not prove a criminal violation beyond a reasonable doubt.

Perez, who has a tattoo on his hand which is likely gang-related, is now in the middle of a city council election that is beset with retributions and threats of violence. There has not been an election in Cudahy since 1999 and many candidates have dropped out of the current race because they fear for their lives.

The city leaders fired the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department who, in the 1990’s, went after the teaming gangs and drugs in Cudahy. They then hired the police department of neighboring Maywood which engages mostly in the lucrative business of traffic stops and vehicle impoundments. Their police department is infected with accounts of brutality and kickbacks.

The drug business in Cudahy is astounding. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency seized twenty times more cocaine there in the past five years than in nearby Bell, a town similar in size. Last year while the Maywood Police Department engaged in traffic stops, federal agents seized automatic weapons and 270 pounds of marijuana in Cudahy.

One of the town’s prominent nightclubs, Potrero Club, had over 700 calls in 2003 for shootings, assaults, stabbings, beatings by security guards, drug use, and rape. Cities like Cudahy attract Mexican drug cartels, the Mexican Mafia, and gangs. The town has set up business fronts, which obscure underground drug activity. However, the FBI and DEA report that the connection between city officials and business fronts nationwide are almost impossible to prove. So for now, George Perez goes free.

DEA agent Sarah Pullen said, “Southeast Los Angeles County has always been heavily involved in all levels of drug trafficking.” Indeed, most of America’s cocaine and other illicit drugs come from Columbia and Venezuela, are then shipped to Mexico, and finally cross our southern border. Often their first stop is San Diego or Cudahy.

Mexicans bring their brand of politics and society into America. However, when they bring in their south-of-the-border corruption such as in Cudahy, this concerns us all.

The United States was not founded on crooked politics, corruption, illicit drug trade, and gang violence.

What is the goal, the vision of those who seek to bring corruption and crime to America? Lawyers from towns such as Cudahy have been heard saying that they are going to take over the towns in the Southwest and put Latinos in power.

Another problem with illegal immigration is that Mexican workers are almost always willing to work at much lower wages than their domestic counterparts. Many corporations and agricultural firms hire illegal workers to save their company money. This practice artificially lowers wages in America, which are low to start with, as the US has one of the highest income disparities in the free world. Mexican workers who are legal are able to command higher wages, which is good for everyone involved.

Still another problem with undocumented workers is the billions they send back to their families in Mexico every year. That money would help our economy if it stayed here because the Mexican workers were legal, plus it would likely create more jobs. Money sent to Mexico doesn’t appear to create anything but more spending there.

Also to consider is the billions lost here in unpaid medical bills as no hospital will turn down an injured or sick illegal immigrant. Nor should they. Then there’s the billions spent here for social services for illegal immigrants and for incarcerating the ones who get caught breaking the law. I won’t deny that things are not perfect in Mexico.

I believe many Mexicans seek work in America as their only alternative is often starvation. However, our Congress must come up with laws which will not only prevent the quandary in the future, but come to terms with the millions of illegal immigrants who are here and working now. I have no problem sharing my country with our neighbors south of the border. However, it will be a win situation for all if they come here out of respect for our laws and customs, rather than with contempt for them.

http://www.huntingtonnews.net/columns/0 ... mment.html

Cudahy Reformers Lose
By just 33 votes, the vice mayor hangs on to power in the gang-ravaged, drug-riddled town

By JEFFREY ANDERSON
Wednesday, March 7, 2007 - 6:00 pm
Incumbent Mayor Frank Gurule, Vice Mayor Osvaldo Conde and Councilman Juan Romo were re-elected by a narrow margin in Cudahy Tuesday amid light voter turnout and signs of irregularities at the polls.

Unofficial results show that challengers Danny Cota and Luis Garcia, former city employees who mounted a grassroots campaign, failed to unseat Conde by 36 and 33 votes respectively, according to Cudahy City Clerk Larry Galvan.

Cudahy, a 1.2-square-mile city 10 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, has not had an election since 1999. With a population of 28,000 mostly Mexican immigrants, only 4,836 residents are registered to vote, and city records show that less than 1,000 actually voted.

Some residents observed irregularities, with former City Councilwoman Araceli Gonzalez saying she had concerns about the separation of ballots with hanging chads, and whether voters were properly instructed on casting provisional ballots. One vote counter was punching “a hanging chad through with a pencil,” said Gonzalez. “I didn’t feel comfortable with the counting procedures.”

Cudahy voters also encountered discouraging conditions, according to numerous sources who insisted on anonymity, including perceived gang members milling near the polls and Hummer limousines ferrying certain voters to the polls. “There’s a feeling of intimidation,” one former Cudahy resident, whose family voted, told the L.A. Weekly. “People are afraid to vote, and they are afraid that someone might know who they voted for.”

Cudahy has a history of gang and drug activity, according to local and federal law enforcement sources, police statistics and court records. (See “The Town the Law Forgot,” February 23, 2007.) In December, the election campaign was marred by alleged criminal threats against a challenger who later dropped out. A dominant theme, according to dozens of Cudahy residents, employees, former employees and former officials interviewed by the Weekly, is one of fear.

Another issue possibly on the minds of residents is the police. In 2003, after firing the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, Cudahy City Manager George Perez hired the Maywood Police Department on a $2 million-a-year contract. Perez also hired Maywood Club Towing to work with the police on impounding vehicles.

Recently the Maywood-Cudahy Police Department was accused of civil rights violations, and Maywood Club Towing was accused of paying kickbacks to police and Maywood City Council members. District Attorney Steve Cooley and the FBI are investigating, and state Attorney General Jerry Brown is conducting a civil review. Cudahy Mayor Frank Gurule and City Manager George Perez say the investigation has nothing to do with Cudahy.

http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/cudah ... ose/15865/