Thread: Since strict immigration law was passed, town has been quiet

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ ... pnewjersey

RIVERSIDE, N.J. -- Dave Ercolani is glad he's retiring and closing his hardware store. It could be tough to stay in business now that the township, not long ago teeming with recent arrivals from Brazil, has adopted one of the nation's toughest anti-immigration laws.

The town council adopted an ordinance in July that makes it a crime for businesses to knowingly employ illegal immigrants or for landlords to rent to them.
Even though the law isn't being enforced, its effects can be felt because of a fast loss of hundreds of residents who have left town since the law was adopted.

"This town was starting to move," said Ercolani, who said he does not know whether the law was right or wrong. "I feel that they killed everything."

Riverside is an old industrial town on the banks of the Delaware River. Its downtown has wide sidewalks and wider streets lined with proud two-story buildings.

Many of them _ more than a few months ago _ have "Apartment for Rent" or "Store Closed" signs.

And on Wednesday afternoon, there was almost no life on the sidewalks. People who work downtown say that's a big change from before the ordinance was adopted.

Jose Victor, the Portugal-born owner of Victor's Market, said business at his grocery, which specializes in Brazilian and Portuguese fare, is down as much as 40 percent. Other merchants said their experience was similar.

"This is no good for town," said Victor, who has owned his store for 13 years. "No people, no business."

Riverside has about 8,000 residents. Before the ordinance, officials figured that perhaps 3,500 of them were illegal immigrants, mostly from Brazil.

There had been a Portuguese community in town since the 1980s, but the Brazilian population swelled over the last few years.

Some merchants think that the life brought by the newcomers had as much to do with a fledgling revitalization as a Camden-to-Trenton train line that rolled into town 2{ years ago, bringing hope of a new vitality to a place where plenty of storefronts were vacant.

Township officials have said they felt they had to do something about illegal immigrants who they believed were straining public services and creating a parking scarcity in some neighborhoods.

The answer was the "Illegal Immigration Relief Act," which can impose fines of $1,000 on first-time offenders. A similar law was adopted this year in Hazleton, Pa., and others are under consideration in towns across he country.

The exodus of Brazilians _ documented and undocumented _ has been quick. Some folks figure more than a thousand have departed for nearby Philadelphia or to places such as Delaware and Maryland. The mayor did not return calls for comment Wednesday.

But the community has quickly gotten used to protests. Dueling rallies on either side of the issue last month drew around 500 people. That was far fewer people than drawn by a car show the day before, where locals say Brazilian dancers and Anglo bands celebrated side by side.

One lawsuit objecting to the law already has been filed.

A second lawsuit, from a group that includes the ACLU and a coalition of local business owners and landlords, has been threatened unless the township committee repeals the law at its meeting Wednesday. A reversal appeared to be a long shot.

Downtown Wednesday, no one liked the way things have unfolded.

Andreia Rocha, a 26-year-old college student from Brazil, said there's pervasive fear among the Brazilians who have remained in town.

"They don't want to walk on the street because every time they see a police car, they get really afraid," she said.

At Galdo Jewelers, business wasn't hurt because not many immigrants shopped there, said owner Sally I. Gordon, another merchant who did not want to give an opinion of the law.

But she said the town has suffered because of the ordinance.

"It's getting a bum rap," she said. "Riverside's a nice little town."

It just shows that the illegals only buy what is needed to survive. The grocery stores including the small Brazilian ones lost business but the jewelry store has seen no change. This just proves what I have been saying all along. They do very little for the American economy as they only pay rent, buy the bare necessities for life and send the rest of the money back home.