Immigration Raid Makes a Ghost Town

[Joe ( Cold Spring on Hudson )]

This should spark some debate.

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/immigration-raid-makes-a-ghost-town/20060915141409990003?ncid=NWS00010000000001

STILLMORE, Ga. (Sept. 15) - Trailer parks lie abandoned. The poultry plant is scrambling to replace more than half its workforce. Business has dried up at stores where Mexican laborers once lined up to buy food, beer and cigarettes just weeks ago.



Last month, the government reported that Georgia has the fastest-growing illegal immigrant population in the country. Georgia lawmakers recently passed some of the nation's toughest measures targeting illegal immigrants.


This Georgia community of about 1,000 people has become little more than a ghost town since Sept. 1, when federal agents began rounding up illegal immigrants.

The sweep has had the unintended effect of underscoring just how vital the illegal immigrants were to the local economy.

More than 120 illegal immigrants have been loaded onto buses bound for immigration courts in Atlanta, 189 miles away. Hundreds more fled Emanuel County. Residents say many scattered into the woods, camping out for days. They worry some are still hiding without food.

At least one child, born a U.S. citizen, was left behind by his Mexican parents: 2-year-old Victor Perez-Lopez. The toddler's mother, Rosa Lopez, left her son with Julie Rodas when the raids began and fled the state. The boy's father was deported to Mexico.

"When his momma brought this baby here and left him, tears rolled down her face and mine too," Rodas said. "She said, `Julie, will you please take care of my son because I have no money, no way of paying rent?"'

For five years, Rodas has made a living watching the children of workers at the Crider Inc. poultry plant, where the vast majority of employees were Mexican immigrants. She learned Spanish, and considered many immigrants among her closest friends. She threw parties for their children's birthdays and baptisms.

The only child in Rodas' care now, besides her own son, is Victor. Her customers have disappeared.

Federal agents also swarmed into a trailer park operated by David Robinson. Illegal immigrants were handcuffed and taken away. Almost none have returned. Robinson bought an American flag and posted it by the pond out front - upside down, in protest.

"These people might not have American rights, but they've damn sure got human rights," Robinson said. "There ain't no reason to treat them like animals."

The raids came during a fall election season in which immigration is a top issue.

Last month, the federal government reported that Georgia had the fastest-growing illegal immigrant population in the country. The number more than doubled from an estimated 220,000 in 2000 to 470,000 last year. This year, state lawmakers passed some of the nation's toughest measures targeting illegal immigrants, and Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue last week vowed a statewide crackdown on document fraud.

Other than the Crider plant, there isn't much in Stillmore. Four small stores, a coin laundry and a Baptist church share downtown with City Hall, the fire department and a post office. "We're poor but proud," Mayor Marilyn Slater said, as if that is the town motto.

The 2000 Census put Stillmore's population at 730, but Slater said uncounted immigrants probably made it more than 1,000. Not anymore, with so many homes abandoned and the streets practically empty.

"This reminds me of what I read about Nazi Germany, the Gestapo coming in and yanking people up," Slater said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Marc Raimondi would not discuss details of the raids. "We can't lose sight of the fact that these people were here illegally," Raimondi said.

At Sucursal Salina No. 2, a store stocked with Mexican fruit sodas and snacks, cashier Alberto Gonzalez said Wednesday that the owner may shutter the place. By midday, Gonzalez has had only six customers. Normally, he would see 100.

The B&S convenience store, owned by Keith and Regan Slater, the mayor's son and grandson, has lost about 80 percent of its business.

"These people come over here to make a better way of life, not to blow us up," complained Keith Slater, who keeps a portrait of Ronald Reagan on the wall. "I'm a die-hard Republican, but I think we missed the boat with this one."

Since the mid-1990s, Stillmore has grown dependent on the paychecks of Mexican workers who originally came for seasonal farm labor, picking the area's famous Vidalia onions. Many then took year-round jobs at the Crider plant, with a workforce of about 900.

Crider President David Purtle said the agents began inspecting the company's employment records in May. They found 700 suspected illegal immigrants, and supervisors handed out letters over the summer ordering them to prove they came to the U.S. legally or be fired. Only about 100 kept their jobs.

The arrests started at the plant Sept. 1. Over the Labor Day weekend, agents with guns and bulletproof vests converged on workers' homes after getting the addresses from Crider's files.

Antonio Lopez, who came here two years ago from Chiapas, Mexico, and worked at the Crider plant, said agents kicked in his front door. Lopez, 32, and his 15-year-old son were handcuffed and taken by bus to Atlanta with 30 others. Because of the boy, Lopez said, both were allowed to return. In his back pocket, he carries an order to return to Atlanta for a court hearing Feb. 2.

But now, "there's no people here and I don't have any work," he said.

The poultry plant has limped along with half its normal workforce. Crider increased its starting wages by $1 an hour to help recruit new workers.

Stacie Bell, 23, started work canning chicken at Crider a week ago. She said the pay, $7.75 an hour, led her to leave her $5.60-an-hour job as a Wal-Mart cashier in nearby Statesboro. Still, Bell said she felt bad about the raids.

"If they knew eventually that they were going to have to do that, they should have never let them come over here," she said.

[Stinkbug]

http://www.newyoustyle.com/members/1405770/uploaded/mexicanflag5.jpg

[Bruce Hooke]

Wow. For better or worse, that's a REAL look at what a rapid roundup of illegal immigrants would mean.

You see all sides -- the human impact on the people, the impact on local businesses, the increase in wages for legal workers, which presumably means, in the long run, an increase in food prices for the rest of us.

[Memphis Mike]

I guess the Dubya has decided he really can't depend on the Hispanic vote.

[geeman]

They were breaking the laws of this country.Increases in wages for the legal workers is a bad thing??. Maybe its time for food prices to come up a bit if it means LEGAL workers can make a better wage.I would prefer to pay a bit more for food if it means a CITIZEN of this country can get a fair wage for his/her work.As far as the part where families are seperated,that wouldnt be a problem now IF they wasnt allowed in in the 1st place.In order to get it back under control now,some pain by ILLEGAL Aliens will be.As far as the Nazi mention, The Nazis were rounding up CITIZENS,NOT ALIENS.The notion that its ok to allow ILLEGALS here if it keeps prices down for us? Short term low prices in exchange for ??????????? in the future?

[uncas]

Sounds like its gonna be a gov. " catch and release " program.
Seriously, this has been a long time coming. I had expected it ages ago and I think it is going to happen more often than not and not just in GA.

[Phillip Allen]

The invasion has to be delt with in some way...though I don't know how.

It's one of those things which eventually forces us to re-act

I might add: I know a lot of hispanics (not all are Mexican) and I like most of them. They are hard workers and honest in all other ways. Those who have raised children here have brought those poeple up to love this nation...something has been mishandled in the past and the piper WILL be paid.

[uncas]

Phillip is gonna take a job building the fence.

[geeman]

ALL the resturants in this area that hired Illegal Aliens as staff,WE didnt see any lower prices when their overhead came down,,imagine that,now their having to hire BACK citizens and their prices didnt rise,imagine that too.In my discussions with business owners in this area that moan because they lost their cheap labor,my comments to them were that if they couldnt operate within the laws of this country ,they didnt have a VIABLE business to start with.If you cant follow the law of the land, your business isnt viable .

[Phillip Allen]

Phillip is gonna take a job building the fence.

I've done similar things...

[geeman]

Nice big long fence ,high fence,complete without running water but WITH electricity,,,,,,,,,

[uncas]

So, you have practice! The gov. will be looking for people with experience. :) But of course, the gov. won't pay for experience.

[Phillip Allen]

So, you have practice! The gov. will be looking for people with experience. :) But of course, the gov. won't pay for experience.

The Government creates experiences

[geeman]

The GOVT is better at creating problems by avoiding problems,,,,,

[Phillip Allen]

yes

[geeman]

AOL poll on this subject came out 75% in FAVOR of the raids.

[uncas]

and not one person in Stillmore or its environs was polled.
Of course 75% were in favor. It didn't effect them.

[geeman]

It effects us here,we know because we deal with it.WE DEAL WITH IT.

[uncas]

Yup..it effects us but we don't see it until the price of chicken or pork goes up.

[Wild Dingo]

Stacie Bell, 23, started work canning chicken at Crider a week ago. She said the pay, $7.75 an hour, led her to leave her $5.60-an-hour job as a Wal-Mart cashier in nearby Statesboro

$5.60 up to $7.75 per hour?? Thats gotta be a missprint right? I mean a 23 year old earning that little in the USA has gotta be wrong... right?

If it is wrong then whew! thank goodness for typos!

If its right... how can anyone be expected to survive on that low an income in this day and age?

Most of my girls have worked at local supermarkets and in Big W Woolwoorths and Bunnings (a large hardware chain) and none have ever earnt less than $14 per hour and usually around the $15.50 per hour rate... 5.60? 7.70? shyte we dont even get out of bed for that little let alone work! MAN thats plain nuts! poor buggars would have to work 12 hour shifts 7 days a week just to get by surely? well below poverty rates

And your unions are okay with that? I mean shyte thats just bloody crazy!... Okay Id heard that your hospitality industry works on the tip method to up the pays of their workers but thats just plain bloody stupid... sorry but hell imagine trying to survive pay the rent or mortgage power water phone put food on the table clothes on your backs if thats the only wage comin in the bloody house!! Man thats unbelievable!

[geeman]

It's not wrong Dingo,thats the wage.The problem is they CANT live on that wage.And we keep prices low by using those low wages,as a crutch so the rest of us can eat cheaper food.So it says something about the rest of us that we have no problem with people TRYING to live at that wage ,,as long as we can get cheaper food.Says something about us ,,doesnt it,?

[Bruce Hooke]

Dingo,

No, that is almost certainly not a typo, and one does wonder how someone is supposed to survive on less than $50/day in pay.

[geeman]

Dingo , the unions (of which I have always supported) is pretty much powerless now days due to outsourcing.If they dont go along with big business ..big business will simply eliminate their jobs overseas.

[uncas]

I figured out once what I was paid at a boardingschool to take care of kids in the classroom and elsewhere 24/7. I won't give it to ya because it makes depressing look good.
Okay, the school threw in the slop it served but you were kicked out for three months during the summer.

[geeman]

DIngo ,,at least in THIS area the hospitality industry HAS NO unions.Big business here WILL NOT ALLOW unions to come in in any form.

[geeman]

Unions tried to get a foothold in this area about 12 years ago,the companies used the same tactics that Ford and other companies used effectively way back when to make sure the votes went as they wanted them too.Including threatening employees if they didnt vote against,filming workers as they went in to vote ,etc.One more thing here, they got away with it too,,,,,,

[Wild Dingo]

Honestly?... I find this absolutely amazing

[keelbolts]

Notice how the pay went up at the poultry plant when they no longer had the illegal's to use.

[pcford]

It makes me very uneasy to have an opinion with which at least some of those on the right agree, but I believe that the illegal immigration situation is simply out of hand.

Wages are being driven down. Business is in favor of illegal immigration for this reason.

There is no more fundamental right of a nation-state than that of controlling its borders. Why not let the whole world in?

[pipefitter]

Now if the illegals are serious about being citizens of this great country,they can stand in line and become citizens. Just like every immigrant from any country. Worst case scenario? Take all the welfare freeloaders excuses away about lack of work and make them subsidize their benefits with the 5.60/hr. It amazes me how someone that has no exposure to the problems of this condition can harp about human rights. Take at least part of the welfare burden off the tax payers and this should start to trickle back at least in the right direction.

As a positive aside,we had an upholstery supplier for our company that used an illegal for his sewing/assembly work and he got deported. He has since come back,legally,bought the upholstery company and is doing well.He carries his pride well and is a different person now and interacts as if he belongs here. He's welcome as far as I am concerned. He loves this country and is now treated as an equal.He said it was alot easier than he thought. He had been deported a few times.

[Bruce Hooke]

It is easy to propose simple solutions to the problems of illegal immigration & welfare but hard to deal with realtiies such as:

1. Even if the pay is the same, the illegal immigrants are often much more desirable workers because they are the "go-getters" from their societies, whereas the legal citizens who take minimum wage jobs are often people with mental illnesses, physical problems, or simply very poor work habits that make them much less desirable as employees, or simply physically unable to do the work.

2. Commonly, things like agricultural labor are needed in areas where there is not a large population of people on welfare. Then there is the challange of the very seasonal nature of agricultural work.

3. What do you do about child care? This is one of the perputual problems of welfare to work programs.

4. If we are going to get control of the immigration issue, how do we do it in a measured way so that the impact does not fall very heavily on a few, such as this town on Georgia, and almost not at all on other places.

I agree that we need to get control of the situation, and as the chicken plant story demonstrates, it might not actually force wages up by THAT much. However, I grow very suspicious when people start throwing out what seem like simple, easy solutions.

[Bruce Hooke]

It makes me very uneasy to have an opinion with which at least some of those on the right agree, but I believe that the illegal immigration situation is simply out of hand.

Wages are being driven down. Business is in favor of illegal immigration for this reason.

There is no more fundamental right of a nation-state than that of controlling its borders. Why not let the whole world in?

The interesting thing about this issue is that it does not divide easily along party lines. Some Republicans want lots of cheap labor for business, others want to build a wall. Some Democrats want to cut off illegal immigration to drive up wages, others are more focused on things like the individual human stories of the immigrants. To complictate things, both sides are courting the Hispanic vote, which is seen as being pro-immigrant.

[pipefitter]

If they keep sending them home, these agricultural companies will need to promote legal citizenship.If they need to be here to work,then they need their card or atleast temporary/seasonal visas.There is alot of welfare cases where both parents are home and neither works. If there is an able body that can work,he/she can fill the spot.

How do you think the rest of us hand to mouth people deal with this?It's just difficult but not impossible. I had to bypass the Cadillac and the excess groceries though and all other non priorty vices.No Nikes on these feet. To see so many, sporting thick gold chains and new cars is not providing a picture of hardship in my eyes. When I worked for low wages,I worked 2 jobs or dbbl shifts for 17 years. I'm a little burnt now but I never had to get public assistance.

[Dave Fleming]

The Documentary, HARVEST OF SHAME?

[uncas]

Ah heck..Ya all know that the US gov. was just looking for a few able bodied men to build the fence. Why bother spending for advertizing. Just raid a small town, pick up the illegals and ship them off to the Rio Grande with a shovel, an axe, a snakebite kit, and a bottle of water.

[pipefitter]

I have had to compete with the illegals directly. I paid my dues all the way from apprenticeship to arrive at journeyman's wages.It was a long road. I expect my competition to have to pay the same. I dont have issue with the illegals themselvesbut the bastids that exploit them while cutting my throat.

[George Roberts]

Wild Dingo ---

The $7.70/hr wages are starting wages. They are certainly suitable wages for kids with no experience.

The problem is that adults with families and no skills want these jobs and enough pay to afford a reasonable life.

[Bruce Hooke]

The challange, as always, is that there is generally a good reason why certain adults are not doing well at moving up the job ladder. It is easy to say that they should work harder, take another job, go to school in the evening, etc. The problem is that if someone has a substance abuse problem or is simply too messed up in the head to show up on time every day and ready to work, they are going to have a hard time holding onto a job for long enough to gain much experience. Their job history will also make it hard for them to get jobs. Add on lack of transportation to get to a job and things get even uglier.

The solution clearly has to include both a helping hand and a degree of motiviation through fear of going hungry or homeless, but where the balance is in that range is very much subject to debate, and, of course, varies quite a bit from one person to the next. Some people are basically eager to get ahead and just need a bit of help to overcome the hurdles. Others, even if threatened with imminent starvation and ongoing homelessness can barely manage to get anything done.

I've seen what happens to some people when they grow up in a house where they are regularly abused. It is truly sad how much of their life energy goes into just coping with what is going on in their head, and how hard it can be for them to deal with what seem like simple problems. Some people who come from this sort of background manage to pull through. The percentage who do pull through is much higher if they come from some money (yes, rich families can be really messed up) and so have a bit more of a safety net under them to catch them when they fall.

[Dave Fleming]

Well golly gee, I wonder what those store keepers did before the 'dinks' came to town?

Maybe they were in the chicken pluckin plants makin' that fantastic $5 or $7 per hour guttin' them pullets.


Much easier and profitable to stand behind a counter and sell stuff to the 'dinks'.:rolleyes:


Somebody's got to shovel the ****e.:eek:

[Figment]

This whole notion of keeping out illegal (cheap) workers in order to drive up wages seems flawed in the long term.

Won't the jobs eventually go where the cheap labor is?

Think it will be difficult to build a wall to keep the cheap labor south of the border? Try to imagine building a wall to keep BUSINESS north of the border.

[pipefitter]

It seems that it would make for large issues for the agricultural busines. They are already having to compete with SoAm produce from Chile and such which is horrible btw. Seems they would have to raise import tarriffs as well to up the competition if there is to be any wage increases. With construction it is different. The contractors are getting excessively fat in months with the blow and go building that is going on. The Illegals just need to be legal or accountable in some way.

[BrianW]

I guess the Dubya has decided he really can't depend on the Hispanic vote.

I think your applying a double standard here. If he did prevented deporting illegals, some would claim he's courting them for a future vote.

While naturally it was federal agents who made the arrests, the article clearly presents that it was the state of Georgia that passed the tougher laws, not the Feds.

[Joe ( Cold Spring on Hudson )]

This should spark some debate.

Yup, guess it did ;)

[Paul Pless]

troll:D

[Wild Dingo]

:D Bloody fishermen in sailors duds :D

[Meerkat]

It's just going to drive up the deficit even further.

With the unemployment rate at or below 5%, it's not a matter of people taking jobs no one else wants, it's a matter of having anybody to take the job in the first place.

[Osborne Russell]

This whole notion of keeping out illegal (cheap) workers in order to drive up wages seems flawed in the long term.

Won't the jobs eventually go where the cheap labor is?

Think it will be difficult to build a wall to keep the cheap labor south of the border? Try to imagine building a wall to keep BUSINESS north of the border.

Excellent questions. Many Mexican assembly plants, less than twenty years old, are vacant, replaced by their equivalents in Asia. I guess there's some jobs Mexicans just won't do!

[brad9798]

7.75 is a livable wage for a single person with a small apt. and an old car ... barely.

But with presumably little education and no skills, she cannot really expect much more here.

Sad for sure ... but that is why folks ought to take the time to learn a trade, or go to school, or whatever. If one does not, one is left behind ... literally.

[John of Phoenix]

Minimum wage has been $5.15/hr since 1997.

5.15/hr x 40hr/wk x 52wk = 10,712/yr / 365 = $29/day (pretax) to live on.

The recently defeated proposal to raise the minimum to 7.25 would have brought the annual pay to "15 big ones" and $41/day.

How anyone, even an illegal, lives on less than $29/day is beyond me.

[uncas]

Hell, let the Native Americans take over the town, have them build a Casino and the town will come back to life.
And no one can accuse them of being illegals.
Ya can bet on it.

[brad9798]

I girl I know, Amy, lives in a small shotgun apartment ... and drives a 10-year-old nice car.

Here rent is $500/month ... in an old part, but nice part of town. Window units, no updated bathrooms, etc. And old four-family flat.

Car insurance about $50
All utilities $100
Groceries $200

She lives a normal life. No kids, no habits, etc. (she couldn't afford them!).

It can be done.

Around the holidays, or if she wants to take a vacation, she'll pick up some bartending shifts and make an extra hundred bucks a week for the several weeks leading up to an event.

:)

[uncas]

Sorry Brad
I ain't up fpr living on the tundra where winter lasts six months and there is no sun.
And in the summer...whew, those pesky mosquitoes.
Naa.. the price mnaybe right but anyone in realestate knows, it is location location and location.
This friend seems to have picked the wrong location.

I do note you did not mention the town.. Ummmmm

[brad9798]

St. Louis.

Winter is only about four months here!!

Ain't saying it's right or even comfortable ... but she sure does it well!

[uncas]

Brad
OK have to find an AAA map...No way will a chart work. Where the hell is St. Louis and is there a body of water ( not the Ms. River ) that I can float a boat on.
The bathtub is a no go there isse... Mine is already full of rubber duckies.

[Osborne Russell]

Hell, let the Native Americans take over the town, have them build a Casino and the town will come back to life.
And no one can accuse them of being illegals.
Ya can bet on it.

You could remove the homestead exemption for gambling debts. That would allow the white people to bet the farm and actually lose it. The Indians could win their land back non-violently.