[WHAT DO MEXICANS CELEBRATE ON THE 'DAY OF THE DEAD?'
Ricardo J. Salvador
[To cite this article in print please use the following: Salvador, R. J. (2003). What Do Mexicans Celebrate On The Day Of The Dead? Pp. 75-76, IN Death And Bereavement In The Americas. Death, Value And Meaning Series, Vol. II. Morgan, J. D. And P. Laungani (Eds.) Baywood Publishing Co., Amityville, New York. Available online at: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rjsalvad/scmfaq/muertos.html.]
Daybreak in the graveyard of Mazatlán de Flores, Oaxaca. Photography: Lourdes Grobet.
This is an ancient festivity that has been much transformed through the years, but which was intended in prehispanic Mexico to celebrate children and the dead. Hence, the best way to describe this Mexican holiday is to say that it is a time when Mexican families remember their dead, and the continuity of life. Two important things to know about the Mexican Day of the Dead (DÃa de los Muertos) are:
It is a holiday with a complex history, and therefore its observance varies quite a bit by region and by degree of urbanization.
It is not a morbid occasion, but rather a festive time. The original celebration can be traced to many Mesoamerican native traditions, such as the festivities held during the Aztec month of Miccailhuitontli, ritually presided by the "Lady of the Dead" (Mictecacihuatl), and dedicated to children and the dead. In the Aztec calendar, this ritual fell roughly at the end of the Gregorian month of July and the beginning of August, but in the postconquest era it was moved by Spanish priests so that it coincided with the Christian holiday of All Hallows Eve (in Spanish: "DÃa de Todos Santos.") This was a vain effort to transform the observance from a profane to a Christian celebration. The result is that Mexicans now celebrate the day of the dead during the first two days of November, rather than at the beginning of summer. But remember the dead they still do, and the modern festivity is characterized by the traditional Mexican blend of ancient aboriginal and introduced Christian features.
Generalizing broadly, the holiday's activities consist of families (1) welcoming their dead back into their homes, and (2) visiting the graves of their close kin. At the cemetery, family members engage in sprucing up the gravesite, decorating it with flowers, setting out and enjoying a picnic, and interacting socially with other family and community members who gather there. In both cases, celebrants believe that the souls of the dead return and are all around them. Families remember the departed by telling stories about them. The meals prepared for these picnics are sumptuous, usually featuring meat dishes in spicy sauces, chocolate beverages, cookies, sugary confections in a variety of animal or skull shapes, and a special egg-batter bread ("pan de muerto," or bread of the dead). Gravesites and family altars are profusely decorated with flowers (primarily large, bright flowers such as marigolds and chrysanthemums), and adorned with religious amulets and with offerings of food, cigarettes and alcoholic beverages. Because of this warm social environment, the colorful setting, and the abundance of food, drink and good company, this commemoration of the dead has pleasant overtones for the observers, in spite of the open fatalism exhibited by all participants, whose festive interaction with both the living and the dead in an important social ritual is a way of recognizing the cycle of life and death that is human existence.
Altar in a home of the Nahuatl village of Milpa Alta. Photography: Lourdes Grobet.
In homes observant families create an altar and decorate it with items that they believe are beautiful and attractive to the souls of their departed ones. Such items include offerings of flowers and food, but also things that will remind the living of the departed (such as their photographs, a diploma, or an article of clothing), and the things that the dead prized and enjoyed while they lived. This is done to entice the dead and assure that their souls actually return to take part in the remembrance. In very traditional settings, typically found only in native communities, the path from the street to the altar is actually strewn with petals to guide the returning soul to its altar and the bosom of the family.The traditional observance calls for departed children to be remembered during the first day of the festivity (the Day of the Little Angels, "DÃa de los Angelitos"), and for adults to be remembered on the second day. Traditionally, this is accompanied by a feast during the early morning hours of November the 2nd, the Day of the Dead proper, though modern urban Mexican families usually observe the Day of the Dead with only a special family supper featuring the bread of the dead. In southern Mexico, for example in the city of Puebla, it is good luck to be the one who bites into the plastic toy skeleton hidden by the baker in each rounded loaf. Friends and family members give one another gifts consisting of sugar skeletons or other items with a death motif, and the gift is more prized if the skull or skeleton is embossed with one's own name. Another variation found in the state of Oaxaca is for bread to be molded into the shape of a body or burial wrap, and for a face to be embedded on one end of the loaf. During the days leading up to and following the festivity, some bakeries in heavily aboriginal communities cease producing the wide range of breads that they typically sell so that they can focus on satisfying the demand for bread of the dead.
Preparing offerings on the eve of the first of November in Ihuatzio, Michoacán. Photography: Lourdes Grobet.
The Day of the Dead can range from being a very important cultural event, with defined social and economic responsibilities for participants (exhibiting the socially equalizing behavior that social anthropologists would call redistributive feasting, e.g. on the island of Janitzio in Michoacan state), to being a religious observance featuring actual worship of the dead (e.g., as in Cuilapan, Oaxaca, an ancient capital of the Zapotec people, who venerated their ancestors and whose descendants do so to this day, an example of many traditional practices that Spanish priests pretend not to notice), to simply being a uniquely Mexican holiday characterized by special foods and confections (the case in all large Mexican cities.)
In general, the more urban the setting within Mexico the less religious and cultural importance is retained by observants, while the more rural and Indian the locality the greater the religious and economic import of the holiday. Because of this, this observance is usually of greater social importance in southern Mexico than in the northern part of the country.
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BORDERLANDS: THE FATES OF THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO AND OF ALL THEIR CITIZENS -- ARE INEXTRICABLE LINKED.
The Washington Post - Current Affairs Reviewed by Pamela Constable Sunday, November 4, 2007; Page BW03
REVOLUTION OF HOPE The Life, Faith, and Dreams of A Mexican President | By Vicente Fox and Rob Allyn | Viking. 375 pp. $27.95
EX MEX From Migrants to Immigrants | By Jorge G. Castaneda | New Press. 222 pp. $25.95 (forthcoming in December) MONGRELS, BAST.ARDS, ORPHANS AND VAGABONDS Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America | By Gregory Rodriguez | Pantheon. 317 pp. $26.95
Migrants in Sasabe, Mexico, cross through a barbed wire fence into the United States. (Guillermo Arias/associated Press)
Relations between the United States and Mexico have long been poisoned by the problems of cross-border migration. The northward human flow has been welcomed by business but reviled by nativists, distorted by outside wars and catastrophes, and debated with equal hypocrisy and mistrust in what Vicente Fox, Mexico's president from 2000 to 2006, calls a "bleak pattern of mutual misunderstanding."
Most Americans today are probably not in the mood to listen to what Fox, or any other Mexican, has to say on the subject. With an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country, many Americans feel besieged by a tide of Spanish-speaking strangers, angry at the U.S. government for failing to stop it, and unsympathetic to the plight of people who break American laws to escape poverty their own leaders have failed to alleviate.
But there is another side to the story and thoughtful voices from across the Rio Grande that need to be heard amid the shrillness of this emotionally charged moment. They remind us that Mexico, too, is grappling with the issue of how to feed and keep its workers, that its leaders are also constrained by domestic politics and posturing, that its emerging democracy is making it a better neighbor. They also point out that Mexican Americans are a permanent part of our society and that Mexico's economic future is ultimately linked with ours.
Fox's book, Revolution of Hope, written in English and launched with a U.S. tour, makes a direct plea to the American people to see Mexican immigrants in a kinder light. He wants us to have patience with Mexico's fledgling efforts at political and economic reform, and to seek common solutions rather than building walls. His tone is often hyperbolic, but his message is heartfelt.
"A Mexican farm boy who crawls across the barbed wire at the Rio Grande desperately loves his homeland," Fox writes. "Only the gnawing hunger and low wages on one side of the border, and the golden promise of economic opportunity on the other" drive him to flee to an alien land where hard, dirty work awaits him.
Fox views these emigrants, whether legal or illegal, as both Mexican "heroes" and American assets. He argues that they are helping America compete with global rivals as well as providing Mexico with an economic safety valve.
A rancher known for blunt, salty language, Fox is both a proud, sentimental Mexican and an ardent admirer of America. He helped end 70 years of ossified one-party rule and took office in 2000, eager to open up Mexico's economy and seek a long-elusive immigration pact with Washington, banking on his friendship with President Bush.
But as he recounts with deep regret, the prospects for any agreement collapsed with the attacks of Sep. 11, 2001. A day of terror plunged Washington into a war Mexico could not support, and gave fearful, angry Americans "a pretext for acting out their xenophobia." At home, Fox's economic agenda was thwarted by domestic opponents, and his dream of peaceful democratic transition marred by an ugly election controversy.
In part, Revolution of Hope is an effort to redeem Fox's legacy. It is laden with bromides and self-indulgent asides -- the nostalgic memories of his childhood ranch, the gee-whiz accounts of visiting China or meeting the pope. He comes across as temperamental but guileless, self-absorbed but humble -- an appealing persona that has been further tarnished by recent reports of Fox's lavish, post-presidential lifestyle.
But the book becomes relevant to American readers only when Fox switches from "I" to "we." When he talks about Mexico's future, he is also talking about ours. When he lashes out at American insensitivity, he also criticizes Mexican isolationism. When he lauds the courage of illegal immigrants, he also rues Mexico's inability to pay them enough to stay. "Our greatest failure," he confesses, "is that they are leaving still."
Fox is premature in his vision of a North American common market where the free flow of goods and workers will benefit all sides. As long as wages are 10 times higher on one side, the flow will remain hopelessly lopsided. But he is prescient in his parallel arguments about the mutual opportunities and challenges faced by both countries, and about their inevitable need for each other in a tough global economy.
Revolution of Hope will not stop the furor over illegal Latino immigrants, but it does make us ponder the futility of building physical and emotional barriers against them. Mexico's own history, Fox points out, shows that "we cannot live forever with a wealthy few inside the walls and the masses locked outside." The American way of life, he adds, "cannot exist in a Fortress America."
Jorge G. Castaneda, a Mexican intellectual who served as Fox's foreign minister, covers much of the same ground in his forthcoming Ex Mex, but he makes a more tightly argued and documented case for the advantages of Latino immigration. His monograph, stuffed with statistics, strives for academic objectivity while acknowledging the author's pro-Mexican bias.
Castaneda focuses on several issues that help explain the sudden panic over a phenomenon many decades old. One is the collapse of "circularity," a longstanding Mexican tradition of seasonal labor migration to the States and back, which was halted by new immigration laws in the 1990s that stiffened penalties for immigrants caught sneaking in a second time. Several recessions in Mexico, an economic boom in the United States and implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement also exacerbated the influx of illegal immigrants.
Eventually the surge reached a "tipping point," he says, creating "the impression that the United States was literally being swamped." Mexican migrants also moved deeper into U.S. territory, putting down roots in communities with little exposure to immigrants, "bringing their families to join them in places where Spanish had never been spoken, chiles and tortillas were never eaten." The emotional backlash was "inexcusable," he writes, but also "understandable."
But Casta¿eda also argues persuasively that the "pull" factor luring illegal immigrants to U.S. jobs remains as strong as ever, and that they perform tasks that are too dirty or dangerous to attract native Americans. He focuses on meatpacking plants in Iowa, where federal immigration agents staged a series of raids in 2006. Despite public resentment of the workers, he says, 76 percent of local residents in one poll said immigrants "take jobs other Iowans don't want."
MORE MAIDS WORKING IN U.S. HOMES By DAVID CRARY The Associated Press Friday, November 2, 2007; 2:59 PM
HOUSTON -- In the debate over immigration, they are virtually unheard, unseen: the hundreds of thousands of foreign-born women, many of them in the U.S. illegally, who toil in America's homes as nannies, cooks and housekeepers, changing diapers and scrubbing floors.
They are jobs of last resort for people whose other options are few.
The lucky ones earn decent wages, and build a promising future for their families.
The less fortunate, isolated and apprehensive, suffer a dismaying array of abuses _ from exploitively low wages to sexual harassment. Some are forced to sleep in closets; others are threatened with deportation if they complain about overwork.
"These people can be very, very vulnerable, particularly if they're not documented," said Sam Dunning, who oversees social justice programs for the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. "If there's any dispute over working conditions, they have very little recourse."
It is, in Dunning's words, a job sector in the shadows _ generally excluded from state and federal labor protections.
Experts and activists agree the ranks of household workers are swelling _ likely to more than 1 million _ although tallying their exact numbers and regulating their workplaces is near-impossible. Employers commonly seek off-the-books arrangements, avoiding contributions toward Social Security or Medicare, and many undocumented women prefer working in the underground economy to minimize chances of deportation.
In one particularly grim case, a wealthy couple went on trial this week on New York's Long Island, on federal charges related to the alleged abuse of two Indonesian women brought to the United States as housekeepers. Prosecutors say the women were held as virtual slaves, beaten, and paid no wages except for $100 a month sent to relatives abroad.
In a few cities, activists have begun campaigns to organize domestic workers and raise awareness of their difficulties, but traditional labor tactics _ collective bargaining, the threat of striking _ are not feasible.
Working conditions were harsh enough to drive Tomasa Compean away from a housekeeping job in Houston that she'd held for 18 years. Over that span her pay edged up from $30 to $50 a day, but her assigned cleaning duties kept increasing and she felt pressured to work even when sick.
"They treated me poorly," Compean said of the couple who employed her. "They were always asking me to do more and more."
Compean, 58, quit and took up full-time work as an office janitor. Last year, she helped lead a strike by 5,300 newly unionized Houston janitors, mostly immigrant women, who won better wages and working conditions.
Now, if any problem comes up, I can deal with it," said Compean, who came from Mexico 27 years ago. "But it would be very hard to organize domestic workers. People who work in the private houses are scared to even talk."
Hiring household help is no longer reserved for the rich. Many middle-class families now feel they can afford to tap the vast pool of immigrants willing to work for modest wages, and many career women rely on a housekeeper to do chores for which they no longer have the time or energy.
Many of the women filling the jobs are single mothers, supporting children they brought with them to the U.S. or left behind in their homeland. Those who work as nannies often devote more time to their employers' children than to their own.
Activists in Houston, just beginning efforts to assist domestic workers, face daunting challenges. Texas is considered relatively inhospitable to labor organizing, and there are no efficient ways to communicate with housekeepers and nannies scattered in homes across the sprawling city.
"The women who live in have the worst stories to tell, but they're the hardest to reach, working in those big houses all day," said Annica Gorham of Houston's Interfaith Worker Justice Center. "We need to spend time in the neighborhood, talk to them when they're out with the kids or walking the dogs."
Activists say some of the women were brought to the United States by traffickers and become virtual indentured servants, receiving room and board but little or no pay. Employers sometimes confiscate a maid's identity papers to maximize leverage over her.
Gorham's organization has launched a pilot program encouraging domestic workers to develop new skills so they could eventually consider different jobs.
For many newly arriving women, career choices are grimly limited, according to Louise Zwick, who with her husband runs Casa Juan Diego, a refuge for illegal immigrants. Often, she said, the options are a low-paying household job or work as a hostess at a bar _ a step which frequently leads to prostitution.
"You make a lot more money in the cantinas, but you ruin your life, you get AIDS," Zwick said.
Some newcomers sign up with employment agencies, which assign temporary housekeeping jobs. But immigrants'-rights activist Maria Jimenez said some of these agencies routinely take a larger-than-promised share of the wages.
Still, at Jimenez' headquarters _ the Central American Resource Center _ several staff members offered upbeat anecdotes of housekeepers who'd been treated well.
Hamilton Gramajo said his mother, Erica, earned enough from housekeeping so he and his sister could concentrate on academics during high school rather than take after-school jobs.
"I graduated from the University of Houston because of her efforts," said Gramajo, whose family came from Guatemala in the mid-1990s.
Sometimes the employer-employee relationship blossoms into something deeply and mutually rewarding. In San Francisco, for example, Steve Goldberg and Sandee Blechman _ both busy professionals _ hired a Nicaraguan woman, Marta Castillo, in 1982. It was shortly after the birth of the first of their three children.
During more than two decades with the family, Castillo helped all three children learn Spanish, attended their bar and bat mitzvahs, attained U.S. citizenship and encouraged the Goldbergs to establish lasting bonds with her own children and grandchildren.
When the Goldberg children were young, Castillo accompanied the family on vacations as baby sitter. Later, she joined them as a guest _ not an employee _ on a trip to Rome and Israel, enabling her to realize her dream of seeing the Vatican and the Holy Land.
San Francisco is one of several cities _ New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. are others _ where campaigns to organize household workers are more advanced than in Houston.
However, Ai-Jen Poo, lead organizer of New York's 1,700-member Domestic Workers United, said housekeepers and nannies face unique hurdles in trying to collaborate.
"In other workplaces, you can get together with your co-workers to bargain collectively or to withhold labor," she said. "A domestic worker has no negotiating power _ she can just be fired."
Domestic Workers United and its allies in New York are lobbying for state legislation to improve working conditions. The Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights would provide for paid sick days and vacation, advance notice of termination, and severance pay.
In California, a bill giving nannies the right to overtime pay cleared the legislature last year but was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The bill resulted from years of work by groups like CHIRLA _ the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. Its fieldworkers try to educate women on their rights before they start household jobs and conduct awareness campaigns aboard buses carrying housekeepers to work.
Angelica Salas, CHIRLA's executive director, estimates there are at least 90,000 domestic workers in greater Los Angeles, perhaps 70 percent of them illegal immigrants. Even those without legal residency are entitled to California's minimum wage of $7.50 an hour, but enforcement agencies are understaffed and exploited women are often too scared to report abuses, Salas said.
Among the women now working as CHIRLA organizers is Juana Nicolas, 49, who came to California eight years ago from Mexico, where she was a teacher. She worked as a housekeeper and nanny in five homes, and said she was routinely underpaid.
"Because of my background, I knew what my rights were," said Nicolas. "Can you imagine the people with no information, what they go through?"
Another CHIRLA organizer, Guatemala-born Telma Gutierrez, 44, worked for 16 years as a live-in housekeeper before wearying of abuse. She said her last job paid less than $50 a day for six days of work that included cleaning, baby-sitting, raising chickens, and gardening duties that left her back aching.
Her employers, she said, had two sides.
"In front of other people, they pretended to be nice _ they'd say you're part of the family," she said. "But in the end they still abuse you."
For some women, however, domestic work is a path to self-sufficiency.
Esperanza Sanchez, 43, came to Houston from Monterrey, Mexico, 16 years ago and has worked in more than a dozen homes as a housekeeper. She now has two steady clients and can make up to $550 a week.
Her practice is to inspect a house firsthand before accepting a job, then negotiate wages.
"I prefer a businesslike relationship," she said. "When employers cross the line and try to be my friend, there's often an attempt to have more control over me."
Despite her success, Sanchez is frustrated, wishing she could go to college and find a more challenging career. In Mexico, she was an accountant _ but says she earns more as a housekeeper than she would doing bookkeeping in Monterrey. And yet, as a non-citizen, she has no medical insurance and no prospect of Social Security.
"I don't know if I can save enough for retirement," she said. "There's no safety net at all."
GROWING ANTI-IMMIGRATION SENTIMENT IS PUSHING MANY PEOPLE TO TAKE ACTION SO THEY CAN VOTE, EXPERTS SAY.
By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer November 4, 2007
The number of citizenship applications received in the Los Angeles area tripled in September compared with the same period last year, despite a major application fee increase that immigration experts feared could drastically set back demand.
Nationwide, citizenship applications also increased in August and September compared with last year, according to new figures from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The applications are on track to surpass the 1-million mark, a milestone reached only twice in the last century -- both times in the mid-1990s. That's when many illegal immigrants who received amnesty in the 1980s became eligible for citizenship, and a political backlash against them motivated many to apply.
This year, similar dynamics are in place, immigration experts said.
"The anti-immigrant sentiment is bordering on the xenophobic, and people are taking notice of that," said Evan Bacalao of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund in Los Angeles. "So even though the fees have increased, people still want to make sure their voices are heard."
To help boost the number of new citizens even more, an alliance of hundreds of organizations last week launched a "100 Days" national campaign to urge immigrants to apply for citizenship in time for the 2008 election.
Citizenship workshops will be held in more than 20 cities nationwide, including one held in Bell Gardens on Saturday in collaboration with Assemblyman Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate). Workshop information is available at www.yaeshora.info. Major Spanish-language media, including Univision Communications Inc. and ImpreMedia, which publishes La Opinion, will air and publish public service announcements urging legal permanent residents to apply for citizenship. It usually takes from nine months to a year to become a citizen, including submitting the initial application, passing English and civics tests and taking the oath of allegiance, Bacalao said.
In addition, the national Latino group this week launched a revolving loan fund initiative to provide zero-interest loans to help immigrants pay the citizenship application fee, which was increased from $400 to $675 on July 30. The $100,000 fund, provided in a grant from Advance America, a cash advance provider, will offer loans up to $400.
One of the fund's recipients is Julia A. Moreno, 62, a Los Angeles resident and Guatemala native who applied for citizenship in September. Moreno said she would not have been able to pay the application fee without a loan from the fund. She has been able to find only part-time work as a nurse's assistant, makes $1,080 a month and pays more than half of that in rent, she said.
Moreno said she wanted to become a citizen to vote, get a better job and possibly sponsor her siblings in Guatemala to come to the United States. Although she has been eligible to apply for citizenship for more than a dozen years, she said the fee increases and tougher climate for immigrants pushed her to make the move this year.
"I decided I have to do it now," she said. "I have no choice. They may get rid of green cards next, or increase the fee even more."
Immigrant advocates had sharply protested the fee increase, saying it would bar many eligible but indigent immigrants from seeking citizenship. But immigration officials said the hike was needed because they receive no regular congressional appropriations for their work and must depend on user fees.
It was still unclear what effect the increase has had on new citizenship applications. Because so many applicants rushed to beat the July 30 fee hike, immigration officials said, the normal processing time to issue receipts has grown from two weeks to as long as 15. As a result, some of the applications received in September might have been filed in June or earlier, before the fee increase took effect.
Immigrant advocates in some cities said the increase had driven down the number of new applicants.
"In Chicago, participants in citizenship workshops plummeted in August and September, and we can only attribute that to the fee increase," said Fred Tsao, policy director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
But in Los Angeles, Bacalao said immigrants seeking citizenship continued to pour into his organization's office. "We're still seeing incredible numbers of people coming in," he said.
Citizenship applications in the Los Angeles area hit 24,377 in September, compared with 8,216 during the same month last year. The total number of applications received between January and September this year reached 213,139, compared with 102,150 for all of last year.
Nationally, citizenship applications noticeably declined after the fee increase took effect, dropping from 135,326 in June to 75,121 in August.
But the numbers this year were still higher than in similar months last year -- 80,365 in September, for instance, compared with 59,869 in the same month last year. The number of applications between January and September was 940,087, compared with 781,684 for all of last year.
SOME WORRY CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WILL OVERWHELM COURTS
11:04 PM CDT on Thursday, November 1, 2007 By DAVID McLEMORE / The Dallas Morning News dmclemore@dallasnews.com
LAREDO – The operation began quietly Tuesday in Laredo as the Border Patrol apprehended 31 illegal immigrants from Mexico in the urban area.
Until this week, most of the 31 arrested would have been eligible for "voluntary departure" – put on a bus once they passed a criminal background check and returned to Mexico without charges.
But from now on, under Operation Streamline, all illegal immigrants caught in Laredo will be sent to federal court for misdemeanor charges of entry without inspection, a trial and deportation. If they return, they face felony charges and jail time.
The Border Patrol cites the success of Operation Streamline in Del Rio and Yuma, Ariz., where apprehensions dropped 60 to 70 percent. And the agency says the tactic will make for a "safer community by reducing illegal border crossings and the crimes associated with illegal immigration and smuggling" on the border. Congress' failure earlier this year to produce a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration laws has fueled tensions across the country as cities and states have tried to come up with their own solutions.
Court officials and public defenders in Laredo fear the Border Patrol's new tactic will produce an overwhelming increase in a federal court docket already jammed with drug and felony human smuggling cases.
The problem is a matter of scale. Last fiscal year, the Border Patrol apprehended 54,911 illegal immigrants in the Del Rio Sector. In Laredo, it caught more than 90,000 illegal immigrants – 74,840 from Mexico alone.
"We're pretty much in a wait-and-see mode. If we see an increase in 70,000 misdemeanor cases, I can't imagine any part of the courts system will have the resources to deal with it," said Marjorie Meyers, director of the Federal Public Defenders office for the U.S. Southern District of Texas.
Border Patrol officials cite the successes Operation Streamline brought upriver in Del Rio. Since it was launched in Del Rio in December 2005, apprehensions of Mexican citizens dropped 66.5 percent.
In addition, drug seizures increased by 66 percent in the Del Rio sector as Border Patrol agents were able to shift more resources to drug interdiction, Border Patrol officials said. The U.S. Attorney's office said that from December 2005, when Streamline was activated, to February 2006, 1,600 illegal entrants were prosecuted in Del Rio.
In Yuma, another high-traffic smuggling area, apprehensions declined by more than 70 percent after the initiative began in January. Immigration prosecutions doubled with more than 2,800 cases. Of those, about 300 were felony cases.
"I am confident that Streamline-Laredo will contribute to a safer community by reducing illegal border crossings and the crimes associated with illegal immigration and smuggling on our border," said Carlos X. Carrillo, chief of the Laredo Border Patrol sector.
The reduction in illegal traffic, he said, would allow agents to focus on more serious threats, "such as terrorism, border violence, and narcotics smuggling."
Initially, Operation Streamline in Laredo will cover only the city area. Eventually it will extend to the entire sector, a region that covers 171 miles of riverfront and parts of 116 counties.
'Zero-tolerance zones'
Under Streamline, voluntary departure is a thing of the past in the so-called zero-tolerance zones. Anyone caught entering illegally where Streamline is in place will be prosecuted in federal court and charged with a misdemeanor for the first offense. Any subsequent illegal entry may be prosecuted as a felony.
The maximum penalty is six months in jail and removal from the U.S.
Those convicted are then barred from legal reentry for five years; 20 years for a second removal. Conviction of an aggravated felony would result in a permanent bar to reentry.
Senior Agent Ricardo Benavides of the Laredo sector believes the history of Streamline in Del Rio and Yuma will repeat itself in his busy area.
"We see this as a proactive approach to securing the border," Agent Benavides said. "There will be an early spike in the case load, but we're sure it will go down as it did in Del Rio once word gets around to the smugglers that everyone we apprehend is going to court."
During a drive around Laredo, he pointed out how geography conspires to make the city a major smuggling crossing point.
"The river curves around the city. Almost anywhere you are, Mexico is just a short distance away," he said. "That makes the entire city a crossing point.
"Streamline doesn't change the Border Patrol's mission," he said. "Our job is to protect the border, initiative or no initiative. But Streamline gives us a way to get a hold on the problem."
Statistics from Del Rio show that just about half of one percent of those caught up in Streamline's net have been apprehended trying to reenter illegally within the Del Rio sector, Agent Benavides said.
"Deaths of those crossing illegally are down 50 percent," he said. "If we can see that result alone, Streamline will be a success."
A hint of the future came Wednesday morning, when 27 people were brought before U.S. Magistrate Adriana Arce-Flores to enter a plea for misdemeanor illegal entry.
A federal public defender visited briefly with each one as they lined up three deep, listening to a Spanish translation of the judge's reading of their cases.
When Judge Arce-Flores asked if they wanted to enter a plea, they replied in unison: "Culpable," or "Guilty." The judge then sentenced 22 to three years of probation, while the remainder received sentences of 30 to 60 days because of too many prior deportations.
"You have to understand, this is a normal day. The Streamline cases haven't been processed yet," said Laredo lawyer Julio Garcia, who represents numerous immigration clients. "We're going to see dramatic increases in people before this court. Everyone is preparing for it, but they're going to need another district judge and a magistrate to handle the increase."
Criminal histories
For the most part, Mr. Garcia said, the misdemeanor immigration cases involve people who come to the U.S. to find work and to take care of their families.
"These are predominantly not violent criminals," he said. "But now, the government is developing a criminal history for them,"
"Not only will they have a misdemeanor conviction, but if they get probation and get caught again, not only will they be charged with a felony, but they'll be in violation of probation," he said.
Lisa Graybill, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, agreed.
"What this initiative does is criminalize a civil offense that will just make more felons," she said. "We're always concerned with the legitimate needs of government to police the border when it infringes on an individual's right to due process."
What isn't clear is whether the court system can handle the shock of the increased caseload.
A study by Thomas J. Bak of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, showed that prior to Streamline, immigration filings in the U.S. Southern District of Texas had jumped dramatically, going to 4,600 in 2005 from 1,700 in 2000. Immigration cases along the entire Southwestern border jumped to 13,000 in 2005 from 7,800 in 2001.
"Even though apprehensions may plunge due to the deterrent effect (thus easing the burden on the Border Patrol), the necessity of continually prosecuting all illegal immigrants will insure that the judiciary, and elements associated with the judiciary, will experience workloads exceeding the pre-Operation Streamline level," Mr. Bak wrote.
Those who work in the federal judicial system, like Ms. Meyers of the Federal Public Defenders office, realize Streamline is a reality.
"We'll just have to see what happens," she said. "But our priority is to ensure that everyone charged with a crime receives effective counsel. If we represent someone, we'll determine the legal issues and fight to defend them. And if the caseload gets too big to do that, we'll tell the judges we can't take anymore cases."
OPERATION STREAMLINE
Streamline-Laredo is patterned after similar programs in the Del Rio and Yuma Border Patrol sectors:
Purpose:
Reduce the number of illegal immigrants entering the United States within the Laredo Sector. Benefits: Greater border security and improving the quality of life for people living in the sector.
How it works: Under this program, all persons who illegally enter the United States in the Laredo Sector at locations designated for zeroÂtolerance and other than a designated legal port of entry will be prosecuted in federal court for violation of Title 8 USC 1325, Entry Without Inspection, which can result in up to 180 days incarceration.
Penalties:
•First conviction is a misdemeanor, with a maximum sentence of 180 days incarceration. •Subsequent offenses may be prosecuted as felonies.
•Once removed, an illegal immigrant is subject to being barred from legal reentry for periods of:
Five years for the first removal
20 years for a second or subsequent removal
Indefinitely, if convicted of an aggravated felony
ANTI-ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION LAW AFFECTING AGRICULTURE SECTOR
By Associated Press 11/4/2007 2:16 PM
LAWTON – Oklahoma’s new anti-illegal immigration law has some farmers and agricultural businesses scrambling for laborers as Hispanic workers fearful of being deported stay away from work.
House Bill 1804, which went into effect on Thursday, gives local authorities more enforcement options against undocumented workers and increases penalties against employers who hire or harbor illegal immigrants.
Chris Ellison of the Motley Gin in Hollis said he is worried about the future of his operation after he had to cut his labor force by 50 percent and cease ginning during the night shift.
“In the small communities where you’ve got seasonal work, it’s hard to find legal people who want to work,†Ellison said. “I’m down to one crew because I can’t find enough help to run 24 hours a day anymore.â€
In seasons past Ellison said he had 30 to 40 applicants for the seasonal jobs, and now he’s only getting about eight or nine per season.
Stopping the night shift, he said, will force him to work three to four weeks longer into the season.
“My only option is to cut back on labor that I have to have, and that’s not going to help anybody,†he said.
David Lingle, gin manager for the Red River Gin at the Tillman Producers Co-op in Frederick, said while he makes sure his employees have the documentation they need to work for him, the law has intimidated even legal workers from coming to Oklahoma during the cotton-ginning season.
He said he has had to recruit from a labor pool that doesn’t want to do the work or don’t work out if they are hired. Lingle said workers are paid more than $700 a week.
“It’s the sorriest help I’ve ever seen in my life,†Lingle said. “The ones that are born and raised here are just not willing to do the work. This law is putting us in a bad situation.â€
On the other hand, Jimmy Kinder Jr., who farms wheat and runs cattle in Cotton County, prefers using domestic labor in his operation 12 miles west of Walters.
“I have tried in the past a time or two, and basically there were language problems and there were other things that I didn’t personally agree with culturally,†Kinder said. “One of them was getting food stamps in two counties in Oklahoma and one county in Texas ... things like that.â€
Kinder said presently his crew is composed primarily of family.
“Right now I’m using grandsons that are in their early- to mid-*****. They picked up a lot of work during the summer, but when they went back to school, they left us hurting somewhat,†Kinder said. “I’m not saying that (domestic labor) is the way to go. But that’s how we’re getting by.â€
CHILDREN FACE MENTAL PROBLEMS AFTER IMMIGRATION RAIDS
By OSKAR GARCIA Associated Press Writer Article Last Updated: 10/31/2007 01:08:42 PM MDT
GRAND ISLAND, Neb.—Thousands of children whose parents are arrested in immigration raids face mental health issues including post-traumatic stress disorder, separation anxiety and depression, according to a study released Wednesday by the Urban Institute.
A child is left without at least one parent for every two adults detained in workplace raids, the study said, and most of those children are citizens or legal immigrants.
"Those children were born in America, and we forgot about their rights during the raids, because they were left parentless," said Steve Joel, superintendent of Grand Island Public Schools, which worked to get parents to keep their children in school following a December raid at the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant.
Researchers visited Grand Island and Greeley, Colo., two of six sites where ICE officers conducted a coordinated raid at Swift & Co. meatpacking plants resulting in about 1,300 arrests. Those arrested were mostly from Mexico and Guatemala.
Researchers also visited New Bedford, Mass., where more than 360 workers were arrested at Michael Bianco Inc., a factory that makes equipment and apparel for the U.S. military.
At the three sites studied, officials arrested 900 suspected illegal immigrants and 500 children abruptly lost contact with their mother, father or both parents. That left them with a combination of unstable supervision, stress, emotional trauma and material needs that can lead to mental health disorders, according to the study.
The study was commissioned by The National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights organization, which officially released the study Wednesday in Washington.
Congress should take more control over how immigration officials handle workplace raids, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should have a consistent policy about releasing arrested parents to minimize harm to their children, the study concluded.
Immigration agents release some arrested parents to care for their children, but the agency does not have a rigid rule for doing so, said ICE spokesman Tim Counts.
Counts said the agency goes above and beyond other law enforcement agencies to help parents ensure their children are cared for.
"This report takes the bizarre position that ICE is somehow responsible for family disruption caused by parents who make poor decisions," Counts said. "Law enforcement agencies across the nation arrest people who have children every day. Everyone understands that parents are responsible for their actions and the resulting impact on their families."
About 100 people were released in the days following the December Swift & Co. raids for humanitarian reasons, primarily to care for children. Many of them weren't released the same day because they lied about whether they had children, Counts said. Some parents lie because they're afraid their kids will be arrested, too.
Researchers with the study talked to about 30 parents, including some who had been arrested, and dozens of caregivers, religious leaders, school officials, lawyers, advocates and others at each site.
Alma Rollins, a private interpreter in Grand Island who works in local courts and other places, said children became very clingy after last year's raid.
"They (children) don't want to leave the mom, they want to go with mom everywhere," Rollins said Wednesday. "The kids are still here, but they are still suffering. (Parents) don't know what they're going to do with those kids."
While many teachers and mental health professionals who directly talked to children and parents said they showed signs of various mental health problems, researchers heard about only one parent regularly seeing a psychologist and only one child and two parents who were prescribed psychotropic medications, the study said.
That's because many Hispanic immigrants have low incomes and can't afford to seek help, or because they don't realize their children are suffering from mental health disorders, said mental health professionals interviewed for the study.
Among the study's other findings:
— While children in most cases had one parent to care for them, that parent was often less accustomed to making decisions and in many cases, couldn't access their spouse's money.
— Families with two parents experienced more long-term separation than single-parent families because the arrested parent was less likely to be quickly released.
According to 2006 Pew Hispanic Center estimates, there are 3.1 million children who are U.S. citizens living with at least one illegal immigrant parent. And 1.8 million more children are themselves illegal immigrants.
Parents and others have long complained that procedures used by ICE agents make it hard for parents to arrange care for their children in case they are arrested, an observation affirmed by the study.
"We're hearing these stories every week, of something happening, an enforcement action, and kids and families being separated, kids being left behind not taken care of," La Raza spokeswoman Lisa Navarrete said. "Clearly that's a major issue within this whole enforcement strategy."
Counts said ICE stands by its arrest procedures, which include letting people make a phone call, asking about family and child care issues and giving a list of free or low-cost legal assistance organizations in the area.
Work site immigration arrests have dramatically increased in the past two years. According to ICE, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, agents arrested more than 4,000 people in workplace raids from October 2006 through September 2007 and 3,700 during the previous year.
That's up from fewer than 500 arrests in 2002 and 2003, according to the agency.
"There are five million children with at least one undocumented parent," said Randy Capps, one of the study's co-authors. "There are a lot more children, if you will, that are at risk of consequences in the future if these work site raids are ongoing."
CANADA OFFERS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS NO EASY ASYLUM ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS HEAR THAT THEY WLL BE WELCOMED. INSTEAD, THEY MAY BE DEPORTED.
By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN, Times Staff Writer Published September 30, 2007
Norberto Jimenez, right, and Cruz Salucio of 107.9-FM in Immokalee have been trying to stop information that is spreading among farm workers about moving to Canada to avoid deportation.
NAPLES -- After years of waiting, Daniel Gaspar was finally hearing what he thought impossible.
The Guatemalan man could get asylum. Not here in the United States, but in Canada.
Sitting in a crowded Bonita Springs church, Gaspar listened as a man explained how he had helped Haitians make the move, and how he also could help Hispanics, like Gaspar.
Frustrated by dead ends with his case and fearful of stepped-up immigration raids, Gaspar packed his bags.
"I've been here so many years, if they offer me hope, I'm willing to sell everything here to start new," he told friends.
Gaspar, 30, is one of hundreds of illegal immigrants, mostly Mexicans from southwest Florida, who have streamed into Canada the past several weeks. Many, like Gaspar, were sent by Jacques Sinjuste, general director of the Jerusalem Haitian Community Center Inc. of Naples.
The allure is great: Sinjuste promises they'll find legal work, free from worry about immigration raids. They'll also get help with rent and living expenses until they're on their feet.
Mexican immigrants who made the trip in the past month have called back to friends and family with good news. It's all true, they say. Canadians put them up at the Ramada Inn, helped them find a place to live, even brought them breakfast.
What they don't know is their good fortune is temporary -- maybe a year or so. Canadian officials say some immigrants do get living assistance and a work permit, but only because their refugee applications are pending. Some get deported immediately.
Chances of a permanent stay are slim, they said.
Gaspar, who lived in the United States for 16 years after fleeing war-torn Guatemala, abandoned his lawn care business, bought a $287 plane ticket to Vermont and paid the Haitian man $400 for his paperwork.
Within a week of crossing into Canada in a taxi, Gaspar was deported to Guatemala.
Canadian officials told him they were puzzled by his paperwork, he said.
"They are not sure what is the law," Gaspar said of the Haitian center from his family's home in Guatemala. "They should tell people the truth. I know they are making a lot of money."
Long-term impact
The recent influx has sparked concern in Canada, where officials worry that U.S. immigration woes could start spilling across the border.
If the rumor spreads unfettered, Canada could be overwhelmed, said Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees.
"What the people in Canada are worried about is the long-term impact," she said.
Even 1 percent of 12-million illegal immigrants estimated to be in the United States would make a huge impact, she said.
Lucas Benitez of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has been trying to warn immigrants.
"Don't believe it and don't pay hundreds of dollars," Benitez tells the listeners of the coalition's low-wattage radio station.
He says immigrants walk into the coalition's office off Main Street looking for paperwork to apply for Canadian refugee status and citizenship.
Every few years a new scam turns up, he said. Immigrants are particularly vulnerable now, he added, because of the failed immigration reform bill and stepped up enforcement.
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