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November 30, 2008
Illegal immigrants going home, and local labor market at risk
BY ALFONSO CHARDY
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.
SMUGGLING RECEDES
Even on the tiny Bahamian island of Bimini, long a hotbed of eager
smugglers willing to transport human cargo to South Florida, the mood is
grim.
''The large groups are not coming as much as they used to, but . . .
people who want to make money nefariously still view this as an
opportunity,'' said Jeff Dubel, public affairs officer for the U.S.
Embassy in Nassau, the Bahamian capital.
The Center for Immigration Studies, in a report published in July, was
the first to note that undocumented immigrants were leaving the United
States. But the report, ''Homeward Bound,'' attributed departures to
increased enforcement.
Later, the Pew Hispanic Center, a research group in Washington,
suggested that fewer immigrants were arriving because of the economic
slowdown and stricter enforcement. The report said that the illegal
population had stopped growing and that it now stood at about 11.9
million, down by about 500,000 from a year earlier.
While the potential ramifications of a reduced flow of immigrants may
not be evident in a recession, labor shortages could emerge once the
economy improves.
''In a bad economy, U.S. workers may temporarily take those jobs that
undocumented workers do, but once things turn around, we may see labor
shortages if too many foreign workers leave,'' said Tammy Fox-Isicoff, a
Miami attorney who specializes in business-related immigration.
Illegal immigrants not leaving the country are traveling to any city,
town or region where jobs might be more plentiful. Businesses that
depend on foreign labor are already seeing an impact.
PRESSURE ON FARMERS
John Alger, of Alger Farms in Homestead, said South Miami-Dade farmers
are not hiring as many migrant workers because the economy is forcing
them to reduce the size of the fields they plant.
''Farm owners are planting less because they are selling less, since
people are buying less,'' said Alger, whose business is one of South
Florida's largest growers of sweet corn and trees for landscaping.
``Nurseries are dying because of the real-estate crisis.''
Last year, at the height of the immigration reform debate, Commerce
Secretary Carlos Gutierrez warned that without enough foreign workers,
landscaping, farms and healthcare companies would suffer.
''We will see rotting fruit,'' Gutierrez said in June 2007. ``We will
see lawns that don't get cared for. We will see patients who don't get
cared for.''
IMMIGRANTS' STORIES
From Homestead to Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach, the stories of
undocumented immigrants confirm the findings of immigration experts that
an increasing number of illegal workers are leaving and a decreasing
number are arriving.
''The economy is no longer working,'' said William, a 28-year-old
Guatemalan who seeks work daily at a laborer pickup site on U.S. 441
near Interstate 595 in Broward County.
He was one of about two dozen undocumented workers interviewed over the
past two months in South Florida.
William, who asked that his last name not be published because he feared
discovery by authorities, said he was saving money to buy a plane ticket
home.
So was Lázaro Rodríguez, of the Mexican border town of Matamoros, across
from Brownsville, Texas.
''I used to send about $500 every two weeks home when work was good, but
now I send $50 here or $100 there,'' said Rodríguez, 46, who stands at a
laborer pickup site in West Miami-Dade, on Bird Road near Florida's
Turnpike.
LIMITED INCOME
Rodríguez said he doesn't earn enough to send money to his wife and
children because he can't find work as easily as when he arrived after
crossing the Rio Grande on a smuggler's boat two years ago.
As Gaspar contemplates future possibilities, Tina Reyes -- his wife --
remains in South Miami-Dade with their four children, two born in Mexico
and two in Miami.
Reyes hopes that the economy will improve and that President-elect
Barack Obama will resurrect immigration reform after taking office.
''For now, all we have is hope,'' she said.
Reyes, who works in a South Miami-Dade nursery, said the economic crisis
has eroded her family's income -- from about $800 a week six months ago
to less than $300.
''I still have my job, but managers have cut hours,'' Reyes said in an
interview at her home, two weeks after her husband had left for Zimatlán
de Alvarez.
Jobs started to vanish six months ago.
''Until then, I worked every day,'' she said. ``In recent months, I was
only able to work once or twice a week.''
While the case of Gaspar and his family offers only a microscopic
example of a larger trend, the departure of foreign workers could
further weaken an already ailing economy.
''It's not just the undocumented who are returning home, but also the
documented, investors, entrepreneurs and managers of international
companies,'' Fox-Isicoff said.
FEAR OF DISCOVERY
Gaspar intends to return to South Florida, but he is not sure that he
could sneak across the border as easily as he did in 1996, when he used
a migrant smuggler to enter the United States west of Sasabe, across
from Arizona.
''My greatest fear is getting caught by immigration authorities after
crossing the border,'' he said.
Like Gaspar and his family, most of the undocumented immigrants
interviewed had crossed the border with the help of a smuggler, sneaking
in near Sasabe.
Gaspar worked in Oregon, picking strawberries, before heading to Florida
in 1997.
Within two years, he had saved enough money to bring his family to this
country.
INCOME DOUBLED
Life was hard at first. But problems in adapting to South Florida were
outweighed by an increase in family income.
''Back then, there was a lot of work,'' Gaspar recalled. ``When I was by
myself, I earned about $300 per week, and when my wife arrived, we
doubled our income.''
Residential developments, part of a hot real-estate market, began to
swallow farmland.
''The first to disappear were the lemons,'' Gaspar said. ``Then other
vegetables vanished. Now, we barely make $150, or less than $300 a week
between the two of us.''
By October, Gaspar was back in Zimatlán de Alvarez, taking care of his
mother -- and scouting the local job market in case the situation in the
United States does not improve.
''If we can no longer make ends meet, we'll come back,'' Gaspar said.
``The idea would be to have a plot of land and plant corn, beans or
flowers to sell, while my children, who speak English well, work in the
tourist hotels.''
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