The Big Blog
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Mexican day laborer: "I don't want my children here"
If you want to find work in manual labor in Seattle, you go to Western Avenue near the Alaskan Way viaduct, where I spoke with Luis Son Tuesday.

If you want the best-paying work, though, you go to the sidewalk by the Home Depot on South Utah Street in Sodo.


Ricardo Boiso Franco is saving money for his four kids and the house he's building in Mexico City.There, 30-year-old Ricardo Boiso Franco chatted with some of the dozens waiting with him, sitting on the curb or standing with their hands in their pockets until a truck came by with an offer. About 117,600 day laborers are looking for jobs or working around the U.S., according to a 2006 study. (For more on the study and day laborers' struggles, read this story by the P-I's John Iwasaki).

Two security guards watched them from the Home Depot parking lot across the street. They've been there about two years, making sure nobody causes trouble. Neighborhood tensions over the day laborers' presence there have been on the rise for at least two years. The P-I's Vanessa Ho described the conflicts in a 2005 story.

Franco left his family behind to come to Seattle more than two years ago. Although he's able to find work here on a regular basis, he said, he wouldn't want his children in Seattle. "Here, people just go bad," he said.

Here's what else he had to say, translated from Spanish:

Why are you here?

"I'm here because I want to do something in the future for me, for my children, for my whole family -- to live better. I come three, four times a week. I almost always find work. Of course, every now and then I don't, but you can't take it as a reason to stop. You have to do what you have to do."

How do your employers treat you?

"Like everything, we have good and bad bosses. As long as they pay, it's OK. Sometimes you get some that don't want to pay you, but in any case, it's OK."

What do your kids think of what you're doing?

"They're OK, and I'm OK. They're not in need of anything. That's why we're here, to do well, to send them what they need so they can study and so they don't lack something. The only thing they say is, 'When are you coming home?' But here we are so that they can study, then we'll go back.

Where do you hope to see your children in 20 years?

"I want them to have a house and have everything they need, and that they dedicate themselves to their studies so they won't be suffering and coming here -- since people come here for want of education and money."

Would you like them to come live in Seattle?

"No, I don't want my children here because here people just go bad."

What do you mean?

"I know a woman here who has a daughter, and when she comes back from work, she finds her drugged up, or drunk, or gone away with her friends somewhere. So, she just went bad."

What's your ultimate goal?

"To put together all the money I can to finish building my house in Mexico and start some business."

What's your definition of a good life?

"To work, not be vicious, and go forward in life, praying that God makes everything go well."

Who else in Seattle should the Big Blog speak to? please e-mail me your suggestions.

P.S. -- Thank you to the commenters who suggested questions in yesterday's post. I went a few hours before you posted them, but if I do this again, I'll be sure to keep them in mind.

Posted by Monica Guzman at September 6, 2007 4:54 p.m.
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