Ruling on Calif. Migrant Housing Delayed

January 28th, 2008 @ 10:50am
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press Writer


RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) - Thousands of migrant workers who live in a mobile home park on tribal land southeast of Los Angeles will have to wait a little longer to learn whether a judge will close their encampment.

U.S. District Judge Stephen G. Larson was to have ruled Monday on whether to send federal marshals to evict the residents. But hours before the hearing, he issued an order delaying a decision for two weeks.

The government has been trying to close Desert Mobile Home Park for several years over health and safety concerns, including raw sewage in the streets, inadequate drinking water and a jerry-rigged electrical system. Because the park is on Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian land, it is exempt from state and local health and safety codes.

At a hearing earlier this month, Larson indicated he would shutter the park unless its owner, Harvey Duro Sr., presented a detailed plan to fix electricity, water and sewage systems at the park in the fertile Coachella Valley, about 130 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

Cheap housing is key for the 4,000 migrant workers who live in the park during peak harvest season and for the region's economy. Surrounding Riverside County has a 40,000-person waiting list for subsidized or low-income housing, with no new units expected before 2010.

The migrants, who make as little as $15,000 annually, pick some of the nearly $1 billion worth of table grapes, dates, chili peppers and other crops that the region yields each year.

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