LAKELAND LEDGER May 26, 2005 WORKING IN NEW FIELDS Illegal Immigrants Seek Job Opportunities Away From the Farm Fifth of Six Parts By Eric Pera The Ledger LAKELAND For immigrant workers, picking crops isn't the only option. Many are snapping up low-paying jobs doing construction, housekeeping and more.
Of the 2.5 million new jobs created nationally last year, nearly 1 million were filled by Hispanic immigrants new to this country. Of those, an estimated 700,000 are here illegally, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
Locally, the three hurricanes that crossed Polk County last year brought even more opportunity for Hispanics in construction -- essentially pulling migrants from the groves and putting them on the roofs of damaged buildings.
Anyone who has had home repair work done since the storms has likely dealt with workers who speak Spanish, not English.
It's illegal to hire undocumented workers, but many get hired using bogus identification cards, authorities say. Recently, The Associated Press reported that 66 illegal immigrants who used fake Social Security cards to get jobs were arrested while working at a new federal courthouse site in Orlando.
With industries such as hospitality, construction and agriculture in Central Florida, we have "an awful lot of jobs that are being filled by people here illegally that are allowing our economy to continue to boom," said U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow.
"In many cases they are taking jobs that Americans don't want. You could advertise for a month for tomato harvesters and not have a single domestic worker show up. Who wants that job?" Putnam asked. "It's a real problem."
Or more to the point, it's a dilemma of national scale.
Illegal Mexicans and other Hispanics are largely responsible for getting America's economy out of the doldrums, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, an arm of the Pew Charitable Trusts.
While the demand for immigrant labor remains high, these new workers are primarily filling low-skill, low-wage jobs. Nationwide, more foreign-born Hispanics are working as maids or truck drivers than there are in fields and groves, according to Pew Hispanic Center statistics.
The construction industry relies heavily on these new foreigners, according to a Pew analysis of recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau.
Without this influx of illegal immigrants, Central Florida's construction boom of recent years might have gone bust, said Joel Adams, president of the Polk County Builders Association.
"It was a godsend. We were struggling to find reliable help," he said. "They've stepped up, and I've seen them fill a pretty good void."
Hispanics have been instrumental in meeting builders' demands for framers, masons and drywall installers, said Adams, a builder who co-owns Highland Homes, a family business.
Such trades pay better, on average, than farm labor -- as much as $15 an hour or more, which is twice what an experienced laborer can make picking citrus.
Adams said he understands the dilemma facing politicians because of mounting public pressure to clamp down on illegal border crossings.
But there are no easy answers, he said, because Mexicans and other Hispanics are fundamental to the economy.
"It's a little bit of the free market (at work)," Adams said. "I think they seize an opportunity, and they're not afraid to work hard."
That view is shared by Mexico's President Vicente Fox, who recently criticized U.S. immigration reforms, including the decision to extend walls along the border and make it harder for illegal migrants to get driver licenses.
"There's no doubt that the Mexican men and women -- full of dignity, willpower and a capacity for work -- are doing the work that not even blacks want to do in the United States," Fox said earlier this month
The Rev. Jesse Jackson responded by saying that Fox's comments were "unwitting, unnecessary and inappropriate."
He said Fox "should not confuse the need for sound legal immigration policy between the two countries, which is important, and the border disputes between the two countries, with a spurious comparison."
In response to Jackson's comments, Mexico's foreign relations secretary, Luis Derbez, said Fox was not motivated by racism but was emphasizing that "Mexican migrants are making great contributions in the United States and that their role is a positive role." Fake IDs Are Common Among Illegal Immigrants
By Diane Lacey Allen
The Ledger
In February, at El Tequila Night Club in Winter Haven, Polk County sheriff's Lt. Paul Kurtzweil questioned a driver who backed over a sign in the parking lot.
The driver, Jario Monroy, told the officer he tried to leave because he was scared. He did not have a driver license.
But Monroy, a native of Mexico, did produce a resident alien card that Kurtzweil quickly determined was fake because it had no hologram, the color on the back was incorrect, the type was too high and another typographical element was missing from the laminate.
"He admitted that the identification was counterfeit and that he bought it in Atlanta," Kurtzweil wrote in his report. "He added that he needed it to work."
Although no official numbers exist on how many illegal immigrants are in Polk, the influx of undocumented workers appears to be on the rise. And with that has come arrests for fake IDs.
"Probably a rough estimate is 80 percent of the migrants I come in contact with -- that come here for labor -- tell you they're illegal," said Kurtzweil. "Yet they have jobs, so they probably have one of those cards."
But while some view having a fake ID as a victimless crime -particularly when it is used to gain employment so money can be sent home to Mexico -- the actions have a ripple effect.
The names or Social Security numbers often belong to innocent people, who find themselves sorting out problems with the IRS after someone using their name or Social Security number gets paid for picking fruit.
"They're assuming identities with these numbers . . .," Kurtzweil said. "It's not uncommon to get a call within an hour (that) this person was arrested under a different name and has warrants in other locations."
Kurtzweil said a recent trend locally is the increased use of fake Mexican driver licenses. One reason may be the difficulty illegal immigrants now have getting or renewing a Florida driver license.
Laws passed in 1999 and 2002 require original immigration documents, such as a permanent resident card (known as a Green Card), which has "severely restricted" immigrants from getting a license, according to the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
Florida considers Mexican driver licenses legitimate identification and valid for driving in the state. Bogus ones, however, can be hard for officers to spot.
"It's too easy to check on a United States document . . .," Kurtzweil said. "But most deputies or police (officers) wouldn't have any idea if it's (a Mexican license) a fraud.
But Kurtzweil is versed in differences between a legitimate license or Social Security card and a fake. He has helped other deputies learn the telltale signs and how to pick up on things such as a smudged fingerprint or an incorrect country code.
A recent bust shed light on how people obtain bogus identification.
In January, Polk County deputies, responding to a domestic violence call, found a counterfeiting operation in the kitchen of Olivia Hernandez, a 23-year-old Winter Haven resident.
They found fake Mexican driver licenses and resident alien and Social Security cards. Hernandez eventually pleaded guilty and received 18 months probation and 100 hours community service.
Hernandez, who reportedly had been making the IDs for about a year, appeared to use a laminator, cut up photos, school glue and a typewriter.
According to police reports, she was charging about $60 for a counterfeit card.
Kurtzweil said it's common to buy a bogus Social Security card and Mexican driver licenses at the same time. The going rate is $100 for both.
The system often works like this: The counterfeiter shows up in a car, lines up customers for photos, then returns with the finished product. Others are fabricated on computers.
Deputies often discover bogus cards during traffic stops.
In April 2004, Raul MerinoMartinez was found to be driving without a license in Haines City. When a deputy checked his identification, he admitted that his resident alien and Social Security cards were fake.
Merino-Martinez, who was born in Mexico, negotiated a plea with the State Attorney's Office in July. He was adjudicated guilty, sentenced to 18 months probation and ordered to maintain full-time employment.
He violated his probation in September, was re-arrested and sentenced to six months in the Polk County Jail on May 4.
Monroy, who backed over the sign at the Winter Haven club, was arrested for possessing a fraudulent ID card, a third-degree felony, and driving without a license, a second-degree misdemeanor. He did not appear for his arraignment on March 29. A warrant was issued for his arrest. Ex-Migrants Pick Crops Part-Time
By Eric Pera
The Ledger
HAINES CITY -- High in the mountainous state of Colima, at the base of Mexico's most active volcano, is the village of La Yerbabuena.
Rich in tourists seeking majestic, tropical vistas and coffee farms, the village is the birthplace of Salvador and Leticia Magana.
In many ways the couple, both in their 30s, have never left those lush valleys.
The Maganas, speaking through an interpreter, said they've built two homes there, doing much of the labor themselves, for about $20,000 each. One is for Salvador Magana's mother and the second is a vacation home.
While only their children are American citizens, having been born in the United States, the Maganas are legal residents of this country.
From their adopted home in Haines City, the Maganas toil, blue-collar style, living frugally and sending their kids, ages 3, 9 and 13 to public schools.
Theirs is an old story with a new twist -- as former migrants, the Maganas (pronounced muh-GAHnyuh) no longer journey picking citrus in Florida, apples and blueberries in Michigan and other crops inbetween.
Rather, they have traded the lowend, back-breaking drudgery of farm labor for better opportunities in Central Florida.
He works as a carpenter in Orlando; she cleans vacation rentals.
Not only is the pay better, they say, but they don't lose hours to inclement weather.
Neither talk ill of farm labor, though Leticia Magana doesn't miss the discomfort of the groves.
"In the morning it's damp because of the trees," she said, "and the grass is always wet. One is always wet."
She hasn't given up farm work altogether, however, because it provides her family the comforts of a threebedroom duplex at Parkview Village in Haines City for only $342 a month.
The sprawling complex of 196 homes is specifically for families that earn all or part of their income from agriculture-related jobs.
To keep her home, Leticia Magana, 34, said she picks blueberries in Polk for Mixon Farms throughout the summer while continuing her housecleaning job on weekends.
Their rent is based on a federal formula that considers family size and overall income. A family of five like the Maganas must derive annual agricultural wages of at least $2,645.
Like many former migrant families, the Maganas' income has become too high for a full housing subsidy with even lower rent payments.
Still, they are able to put away enough money for trips to Mexico and an allowance for Salvador Magana's mother.
Once scorned by their countrymen for abandonment, people like the Maganas are now viewed favorably back home, in part because of the money they put back into the Mexican economy.
Having left home at 18 to pick crops in America, Salvador Magana, 37, who dropped out of school in the fourth grade, is satisfied with his life. "I have done well," he said.
Key to their prosperity is their status as permanent residents of the United States, allowing both to have Social Security cards, without which they could not qualify for low-income housing.
Married in 1990 in La Yerbabuena, Leticia Magana applied for resident status in 1991 and was approved in 1998. Her husband, who had been working in the United States much longer, was approved in 1987.
They worked together for about eight years, picking oranges in Florida, then migrating to Michigan in the summer.
In those days, they paid between $300 and $500 a month for shoddy trailers with no air-conditioning in a succession of South Florida labor camps.
"Sometimes the windows were broken, or the screens (were), and the mosquitoes would come in," Leticia Magana said.
"It's better here. We're not going to find broken windows and it has airconditioning. We're not going to suffer because of the heat."
She learned of Parkview through her sister, who was a tenant at the time.
The Maganas applied for an apartment six years ago and moved in after a wait of three months.
While her husband found work plentiful in Dundee groves, Leticia Magana was first to trade full-time harvesting for domestic work.
When the family was still migrating, their oldest child, Viviana, would start school in Michigan, then transfer to Okeechobee. She said she prefers Michigan to Florida because schools are better and "it was just pretty."
But their new, affordable home in Haines City gave the Maganas peace of mind to finally put down roots in Florida and alter their lifestyle for the better.
Now they can afford comforts such as satellite television, which carries programs originating in Mexico, Colombia, Chile and other Latin American countries.
And they can invest in their dream of putting their children through American colleges.
For Viviana, an eighth-grader at Boone Middle School, it means she may someday realize her goal of becoming a nurse.
"I think it's better now that we're stable," said Leticia Magana, who never made it past sixth grade, "first of all because of the kids." |