Thread: A Washington town confronts its language barrier

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 2432.story

In a program seen as a bellwether, the Justice Department steps in with a formal plan to bridge the English-Spanish divide in Mattawa.
By Stuart Glascock, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 25, 2008
MATTAWA, WASH -- . -- Nearly everyone in this small farming community in eastern Washington speaks Spanish -- nearly everyone except those in city government and the Police Department, where English is spoken.

And almost everyone who speaks one language does not speak the other.

That language barrier has engulfed the community, which has grown over the last 20 years from 300 to about 3,200 year-round residents. (how many are illegal aliens?) Nine out of 10 Mattawa residents speak Spanish at home, and 8 out of 10 adults speak English "less than very well," according to the 2000 U.S. Census.

The Columbia River basin community, surrounded by miles of fruit orchards and vineyards, has tried to deal with its language barrier informally.

From the first gas station to the last retail shop, signs advertise goods and services in Spanish and English. The tiny library offers bilingual story time for families.

For years, police often relied on bystanders to translate at crime scenes. City administrators grabbed bilingual speakers as ad hoc interpreters.

But the gap between an English-speaking city government and an overwhelmingly Spanish-speaking population has grown so wide that the federal government has stepped in to mandate that the city bridge the divide. Tax dollars to aid illegal alien criminals

After a legal aid group filed a Civil Rights Act complaint, the U.S. Department of Justice worked with the city and Police Department to develop a language assistance plan. How about a PRO American legal aid group-like ICE arresting and deporting all these illegals

Adopted in March, the plan is unique in Washington and is seen as a bellwether for cities with similar demographics. The plan requires Mattawa to employ at least one bilingual employee during regular business hours and to make vital information available in Spanish as well as English. It also requires the police to have qualified interpreters on call at all times.

For a long time, the Northwest IN-Justice Project knew that Mattawa police did not speak Spanish and did not use interpreters, said Judith Lurie, senior attorney for the group, which launched the federal complaint.

Then a call for help in a domestic violence case focused the issue.

Mattawa police stupidly allowed the suspect to leave the scene to find someone to interpret, Lurie said. The man never returned. The police had tried to use the couple's children as interpreters, but they were too traumatized by the fighting. Their terrified mother drove them 60 miles to a safe house. Because the police are stupid, taxpayers have to pay for illegal aliens?

"Victims of domestic violence rely on the police to protect them," Lurie said. In Mattawa, "they were not being adequately protected because the police were not using interpreters to communicate." Typical illegal alien aider and abetter logic

Mattawa Mayor Judy Esser said the domestic violence case was unusual. Before the language agreement, police and city officials usually had someone around who could translate.

"We thought that was enough," she said.

The Justice Department said the town had to provide translation for people who aren't English-proficient.

In places that have a high percentage of monolingual Spanish speakers, that means all city services, including law enforcement, have to be available in Spanish. How about all city services going only to US citizens, then we wouldn't have this Balkan problem?

Hiring bilingual police officers and city staffers costs money the town doesn't have, the mayor said. Mattawa employs one provisional officer and three full-time officers.

"We are in a huge competition with every city," Esser said. "It is tough to find bilingual people, especially when the state patrol and county sheriff pay more."

Mattawa, about 130 miles southeast of Seattle, is not a wealthy place.

The town is wedged between the Yakima Training Center Military Reservation and the U.S. Department of Energy Hanford Site. During harvest season, the town's population nearly doubles with migrant farmworkers. They journey hundreds or thousands of miles to pick the region's apples, pears and cherries.

The local government struggles with growing pains and has a limited tax base.

More than half of the property owners don't pay taxes because they are subsidized or nonprofits.

Esser called the growth of farmworker housing "much needed" but a strain on other systems and services.

The streets are lined with prefabricated houses and rundown mobile homes. Coming to a city near you

Chain stores and fast-food restaurants bypassed the town. Illegal Immigrants can find authentic meals from their home countries at El Jato, El Caribe, La Popular, La Parilla, Rallito de Luna and La Maravita.

Satellite TV beams in Spanish-language news and soap operas.

The Anti-AmericanCatholic Diocese of Yakima Housing Services operates low-income housing in Mattawa. The state's migrant council runs a child development center that has a long waiting list. Residents point with pride to the new high school and community clinic.

Jose Fernandez manages an unusual migrant housing project: the Esperanza, a village of 40 reconstructed cargo containers. Six people squeeze into each unit. Families pay $10 per day; singles, $3.

Fernandez sees Mattawa Police on patrol regularly, and he gives them credit.

"They relate. They work with the people," he said. "They do their job."

Maria Belen Ledezma, a 35-year resident who works in agricultural services for the state's employment office in Mattawa, says the police should work harder to resolve the language barrier.Gee, why not have the illegal aliens work harder in their own country to make it a decent place to live?

"How would [Spanish-only speakers] understand what law enforcement is requesting? If they are stopped, how would they know what their rights are?" she asked.

Jim Desler commutes from Ellensburg, 46 miles away, to teach migrant workers English through a community college extension program. He doesn't see a huge divide between town officials and the immigrants.

"I've never heard any complaints about access to city services or the Police Department," he said.

Former Mattawa City Councilwoman Blanca Fernandez recently moved to Yakima, though she still works in town. She sometimes serves as a translator for the Mattawa Police Department.

"There has been an effort to deal with the language issues," she said.

"We live in such a rural area. It's a hard labor pool. Things are getting better. People are trying to fix things."

stuart.glascock@latimes.com

In a related article about the town of Mattawa:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/206 ... rchdiff=12

...This, in a town whose population is 90 percent Hispanic.
Still, Esser said that crime rates are improving.
To Mu-oz, crime is still a problem. "Crime is very high and there are not enough police," he said.
...Hudson adamantly believes that Hispanics that come to Mattawa need to learn English.

She further criticized the constant back-and-forth moving of Hispanic families, affecting children's education and keeping them from setting roots.

"They stay here for the harvest months and then they go back to Mexico," she said. "The kids miss out on an education."

The ebbs and flows of immigration during certain times of the year has affected the housing market in Mattawa, too.

Back in the early 1990s, the spectacle of people camping by the river during the harvest months was well-documented and was serious enough to merit visits by Gov. Gary Locke.

After the creation of the Governor's Project, the Housing Authority of Grant County built housing and the Catholic Diocese built houses, too. Now the problem has reversed.

"We seem to have too much housing," she said.

This because most of the workers who come to the Mattawa fields are single men. Therefore, they do not qualify for family housing projects, and end up renting out bedrooms.

What's worse, the non-profit nature of these housing constructions makes them non-taxable, as well.

Here is some contact info:

Northwest Justice Project
http://www.nwjustice.org/

Town of Mattawa
Address:
521 E Government Rd
PO Box 965
Mattawa, WA 99349
Phone: (509) 932-4037
Fax: (509) 932-4047
General Email: townhall@gemsi.com

If ONLY our CURRENT laws dealing with this stuff were PROPERLY enforced, there would NOT be SO MANY linguistic fractures in OUR communities! And the RIGHT way to BRIDGE ANY language gap is for IMMIGRANTS to LEARN ENGLISH, NOT linguistic pandering that gets them AND us NOWHERE!

We have towns like this all over the Central Valley of California. Funny thing is, ICE is nowhere around.

I read this article in the LA Times today. Another biased piece by a biased newspaper.
Articles like these that don't bother to mention or discuss the illegality of these intruders and the companies that hire them. Or the costs that are inflicted upon the locals, this is the reason that the circulation of the LA Times has greatly diminished. I can tell you with certanty that fewer and fewer people read or buy this paper. The reason is that pro illegal and pro invasion articles are a main stay of this paper.
In all honesty I never see anyone bring this paper to work.
In confession my mom has a subscription, because they are practially giving it away( the only way they can claim to have a circulation at all). Knowing her once they start charging for it she will cancel it immediatly.

A few times a year I get caught by a headling or I want to see the car Adds., so I am tempted to buy one , but I allways shake my head and think twice. I think do I really want to give my 50 cents to a company like this! More than once I shake my head and put my quarters back in my pocket.

I am not sure how long the LA times will be able to last with this much animosity.

I sent an e-mail to the town of Matawa...send them your thoughts. I live in Washington State and was through Mattawa about 5 years ago. Much before I knew of the illegal alien mess. Had good tacos, the store carried mostly Mexican food stuff, and THEN I thought it was an interesting experience. Now, I know it is an ungodly mess all over this country.
Allegience to two countries doesn't work, bilingualism doesn't work...We are being broken from the interior.