Illegal immigrants going home, and local labor market at risk

[babylonsister]

Illegal immigrants going home, and local labor market at risk

BY ALFONSO CHARDY
[e-mail]


Malaquías Gaspar left his farm village in southern Mexico when the economy soured in the mid-1990s. He headed north illegally and found the proverbial better opportunity in South Florida, where he made a decent living by picking fruit and building homes.

But the U.S. economic crisis has disrupted his life and the lives of countless other illegal immigrants who are now planning to leave or have already left.

Gaspar recently returned to Zimatlán de Alvarez in Oaxaca state, primarily to care for his ailing mother -- but also to plan for the future should the economy worsen in South Miami-Dade County, where his wife and four children remain.

''If we can't feed our children, we'll come back,'' said Gaspar, 40, as he sat at his family home -- upgraded with money he had sent from South Florida.

Gaspar is among millions of undocumented immigrants facing new challenges brought on by slim prospects for legalization, more aggressive federal enforcement and a worsening economy. Now, fewer immigrants are caught while trekking through the dangerous Sonoran Desert or risking their lives aboard makeshift boats in the Caribbean, indicating that fewer are trying. Those who make it through can find themselves on one of several daily federal charter flights that return deportees.

The ripple effects are already being felt. Communities in Latin America and the Caribbean report a reduction in remittances -- money sent home from the United States. That money is critical to the survival of families and the success of local civic projects. Border communities that once thrived as way stations for those heading north are now little more than ghost towns.

more...

http://www.miamiherald.com/457/story/792869.html

[treestar]

1. One things I always love to point out to the immigrant-haters

Is that countries with good economies get immigrants. Countries with bad economies do not. And they send immigrants out.

We're becoming poor, all right.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122392295898129415.html

More Americans go overseas looking for jobs.

[madokie]

2. Good deal

local labor markets here are doing good since we enacted a new immigration law here last year that targets the employers. I have nothing personal against anyone in this but I do have a problem with someone who will come here illegally and take jobs for pennies on the dollar, jobs that my family, friends and neighbors used to have. That I have a problem with.

[itsrobert]

4. Didn't you hear?

Americans won't do those jobs. At least without paying them a fair wage.

[madokie]

6. That makes me like me even better :-)

The tone that an Obama administration is bringing is who gets the fruits of our labor, us or them. I say its time for it to be us, you and I.:fistbump:

[Edweird]

10. Thank you. I'm so tired of the 'they ain't hurtin' nobody' bullshit.

WE need jobs. Jobs that pay living wages. The jobs that these guys were taking (in construction anyway) used to pay living wages and provide benefits and be reasonably (but not totally) safe. They turned to crap wage-no benefit-suicide missions. The houses were shoddily built as well. Fuck all of that.

We need to take care of ourselves first.

[EFerrari]

16. Yeah. It's the fault of workers driven North by NAFTA -- bastards. n/t

[Edweird]

17. .

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/crime/sfl-flbtrafficking1127sbnov27,0,6360780.story

[w4rma]

3. Nice spin on that article by the newspaper. Illegals leave, so the MARKETS are in trouble now. (nt)

[msongs]

5. abandons his wife and 4 children...whatta man nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Yes wanting to earn enough to feed your family is such a bad decision

He should have just let them starve :sarcasm:

[eilen]

8. No one has the problem with the man feeding his family

the problem occurs when he is taking food away from your own by breaking fair labor standards and accepting lower wages.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. The poster criticized him for abandoning his family

That's what I was responding to.

[eilen]

13. oh, sorry

I misunderstood your statement.

[gratuitous]

11. I'm willing to bet he'd work for a fair wage, too

But since he's forced the people employing him to pay him less (?), it seems that he has all the power in this little game. Oh, I am so glad that there's a simple, one-size-fits-all solution to what looks like a very complex problem. Whew! I thought we might have to actually do something for a minute there.

[madokie]

12. Now how could I respond to that

good luck

[EFerrari]

15. When those workers have a chance to organize, they do --

as the Los Angeles hotel workers are.

[Cleita]

18. Fair labor standards were broken by the government by breaking the

back of the unions back in Reagan's presidency. Please don't blame some dirt poor, Mexican peasant for doing that.

[EFerrari]

14. What makes you think he abandoned anyone?

People go back and forth to Mexico all the time to take care of business. They don't schlep the whole family every time.

God. I hope you didn't break your neck reaching that far.