North of the Border
The lives of Latino migrant workers
By Ronan Elliott
By Ronan Elliott
The Sherman Heights community center is a grey concrete building, with the occasional flash of a colorful mosaic. It was only 9 am when I stepped out of the car, but already a crowd of people was clustered in front of the building. Some formed a loose line into the courtyard; others were leaving, carrying plates of food or baskets of supplies. I stood around awkwardly, not sure where to go, until I saw Enrique Morones, the leader of Border Angels, coming out of the building. He shook my hand and guided me over to the group of volunteers that had already gathered in front of the doors.
Border Angels is one of the leading organizations in the fight for immigration reform. Enrique founded the organization in 1986 to help Mexican immigrants living in canyons, people without homes who tend the lawns of million-dollar houses. He originally intended to do things quietly, but over the years has been advocating more and more; he’s now the head of the movement against Operation Gatekeeper. He’s also no longer as focused on the canyons. Since Operation Gatekeeper began in 1992, thousands of immigrants have died of exposure while crossing in the desert. Border Angels is trying to prevent more deaths by setting up stations stocked with supplies. The stations contain water during summer heat waves, and food and warm clothing during the freezing conditions in January. “Before we were us, we were them.” That was how Enrique started off the day. It’s a quote he claims to have taken from a phone conversation with the president. It’s also central to his organization’s ideals. Everyone in America immigrated from somewhere else. Even the original pilgrims came from Europe, pushing off the Native Americans who had immigrated across the land bridge thousands of years earlier. California, in particular, was taken from Mexico less than two hundred years ago. Opponents of immigration treat foreigners as if they have no claim to American land, even though—depending on how you look at it—they might have more of a claim than Americans do. The other message behind the quote is that illegal immigrants are just like documented Americans: regular people, in unfortunate situations. This, unfortunately, isn’t how a lot of America sees them. In 2005, the House of Representatives passed HR 4437, and sent civil rights activists into a frenzy. Not only did the bill greatly increase funding to prevent immigration, it made it a felony to give humanitarian aid to illegal immigrants. This wasn’t the first time, either. The bill shared many similarities with CA Prop 187, a 1992 bill that deprived undocumented immigrants of services such as healthcare and education, which was later challenged and found unconstitutional. Americans cheered when President Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachov, tear down this wall!” “After Reagan said that,” Enrique said grimly, “the US built its own wall.” Every week, Border Angels takes its volunteers somewhere different. Today they were distributing food to one of the most common types of migrant workers in San Diego: day laborers.
We parked in an asphalt lot between two warehouses. The sun was already high, and the day was heating up. Enrique led us to a stretch of sidewalk overhung by shady trees, beside a Home Depot. Underneath the trees sat scatter groups of men, mostly Latinos, waiting for a Home Depot customer to offer them a job. We wandered between the groups, talking with the workers and giving them bag lunches and bottles of water. They were all very appreciative, and smiled a lot. Most of them didn’t speak English, or spoke it only haltingly. Enrique and one of the volunteer women started talking with them in rapid Spanish. Enrique was obviously friends with several of them; this wasn’t the first time Border Angels had visited here. The first man I talked to—one of the English-speakers—said he’d lived in America for twenty-four years, but he still didn’t have his documentation papers. He’d been here for longer than I had, and yet he wasn’t a legal citizen. The next man had a wrinkled face. He said he’d been here for thirty-nine years. He didn’t tell me his documentation status, and I didn’t ask. Enrique had informed me that about half the day laborers at this site were here illegally. Not that they were in much danger—the border patrol rarely came by this area. If police did show up, they’d just run. Even so, being a day laborer isn’t a safe job. One of the men—a Spanish-speaker, translated by Enrique—said his employer had refused to pay him, and then assaulted him. Though assault isn’t common, the employers of day laborers often refuse to pay them. They can’t call the police if they’re not in America legally; they’d be deported, and the employer would go unpunished. Less than 2% of Border Patrol resources are dedicated to convicting the employers of illegal immigrants; the workers bear the full brunt of law enforcement’s attention. When people complain about illegal immigrants, they ignore how much our economy depends on them. According to the Migrant Farm Worker Justice Project, 85% of our farm workers are immigrants, and as many as 70% are here illegally. Migrant workers are accused of taking jobs from honest American citizens. To test this idea, the United Farm Workers union launched a campaign titled "Take Our Jobs," which offered minimum wage jobs picking fruit to US citizens. Strangely enough, only a couple dozen Americans went through with the process. And over half a million applicants would be needed to offset the number of illegal workers. The jobs of the immigrants are safe for now. People complain that Mexicans should immigrate legally. Unfortunately, they can’t. Most don’t have an income level high enough to qualify for a visa. Which is exactly the reason they need to come to America. “These are just regular people, looking for work, who crossed the only way they could,” Enrique said. Just as there are people working against the immigrants, there are people working to help them. The UCSD Latino Medical Student Association launched the Migrant Outreach Project; a medical truck that offered migrant workers free clothing, food, and medical advice. They could talk with doctors-in-training about any possible pains or symptoms they were feeling. Although the Migrant Outreach Project is no longer running, Enrique is trying to start it up again. “Healthcare information is very, very important,” he told me. Our second stop was at another Home Depot. While our first stop had been in the city, this one was suburban. The day laborers were gathered around picnic tables by the side of the road, next to a small dry-brush canyon. “Some of them live down there,” Enrique said, pointing into the bushes. The men smiled and thanked us as we passed around water and bags of food. A flock of pigeons was pecking around, eating the scraps we dropped. Here, fewer people spoke English. I tried talking to a couple people, only to be answered with, “No, no, no, sorry,” and polite shakes of the head. One man tried to ask me something in Spanish, and I gave him an embarrassed “Lo siento, hablo un poquito,” before moving on. It’s not comfortable, I realized, not knowing what anyone else is saying.
The work here was even more scarce than in the city; a man could go for a week without finding work. But for various reasons, none could get better jobs. Often it’s because they don’t have their papers, and not many places will hire illegal workers. Other times it’s because this is simply the best work they can find. In an economy where even legal citizens are unemployed, what jobs are available for someone with little education who barely speaks English? Even if they did find a job, it might pay just as little as day laboring. Though it’s a good question. As we were getting back in the car, one of the kids pointed out that the Home Depot was hiring. Why weren’t the day laborers leaping at the chance? Was there no chance of the store hiring someone who couldn’t speak english? Or did race enter into it as well? Advocates for immigration reform face a lot of obstacles. But it’s not without hope. HR 4437—the anti-immigration bill from 2005—ended up failing. And it was thanks to Border Angels. When Enrique heard about the bill, he organized Marcha Migrante. He led a caravan that traveled from San Diego to Washington DC, to draw public attention to immigration. The caravan set out on February 2, the date Mexico gave America the very land the caravan was starting on. Across America, tens of thousands took to the streets to protest HR 4437. The Senate stopped the bill. Now Marcha Migrante is launched again once a year, so the world doesn’t forget the struggle some people go through every day. As Enrique told the volunteers, “The person who’s going to make the change in this world is that person you look at in the mirror every day.” |