N.C. illegal immigrant allowed to retrieve buried savings

GOLDSBORO, N.C. - One of the 48 illegal workers arrested this month at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base will return to Mexico richer by $31,700, thanks to his hard work and the cooperation of immigration officials.

That's the amount of money that Cristobal Chavez Torres saved in $100 bills from seven years of bone-crunching labor and buried in a well-sealed glass jar the yard of the rundown trailer he rented in Goldsboro.

Chavez, who began the bus ride home to Mexico on Wednesday, was allowed to return to the trailer to retrieve both his money and his 16-year-old son, Arturo, before he was deported.

Chavez, 66, has lived in the United States off and on since 1970, when he crossed the Rio Grande River in search of work. He came to North Carolina seven years ago and got a job with a private construction company after doing farm work and construction in California, Texas, Florida and Kentucky.

His son came to live with him six years ago after Arturo's mother died in Mexico.

Chavez never earned more than $7.25 an hour but was able to save, thanks to his thriftiness and stamina for long work weeks. When he had accumulated about $10,000, he decided it would be best to find a hiding spot other than the pockets of his pants. And he wanted somewhere outside his trailer.

"If there were an electrical short and my home caught on fire, I'd lose everything," said Chavez, who never tried to open a bank account because most of his documents were fake.

Randy Chambers, treasurer of the Latino Community Credit Union in Durham, said the credit union's surveys indicate that up to 80 percent of Latin American immigrants in North Carolina have never had a bank account, either in the United States or in their home countries.

Many say that they don't trust financial institutions or that bank employees don't speak their language, Chambers said. Others don't have the proper documents.

On July 6, Chavez was among 48 illegal immigrants working for private construction contractors at the Air Force base who were rounded up after a two-month investigation. He told his secret to a staff member from the Mexican Consulate in Raleigh, who had come to the jail July 8 to make sure Chavez and the other detained Mexicans were being treated fairly.

The staff member relayed the story of Chavez's treasure to Mexican Consul Armando Ortiz Rocha, who called Tom O'Connell, head of the local office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Ortiz asked whether O'Connell would consider releasing Chavez if the consulate ensured that Chavez returned to Mexico after retrieving the money. O'Connell agreed and turned Chavez over to the consulate July 11.

"The main reason was the 16-year-old kid," O'Connell said. "I don't like to leave minors unattended."

After digging up his money, Chavez turned it over to consulate authorities, who placed it in a bank account. They'll transfer the money to Chavez once he returns to Mexico.

The first thing Chavez plans to do is build a concrete house on the small plot of land he bought years ago in El Mante, his hometown in northern Mexico.

Then he'll build a cart from which to sell fresh fruit juice in the town square. He doubts that he'll add to his savings as he did in the United States.

You are very kind. Thank you. There are those of us who are "pro immigrant" who think that the MARKET is calling for the labor, and that when governments try to overturn the market by statute, then we wind up with the kind of mess we have now. I want control of our borders. I really do. I also am not threatened by Prop 200 because I don't think most immigrants come for benefits, but for opportunity. I combine that with a sincere love for many immigrants. We are in the interesting position in my business of having about 15 percent of our clients as hispanic, but only about 4 per cent of the money coming from that element, and about 40 per cent of problems and questions coming from them. It literally costs me money to serve them. However, I do so because they are the kindest, most gracious and polite people I have known. It is a delight to work with them. Plus, I see the "American Dream" taking shape in front of me. Guys who 3-4 years ago did not have a pot to p-ss in are purchasing homes, starting businesses buying cars, employing people, adding to the tax base....., in short succeeding. They have done so through hard work. I have been invited into their homes and have come to appreciate their culture and lives deeply. They are grateful, loyal, and honest with me. I once walked out of my office and left a group of Mexican contractors alone. I had forgotten that several payments were left on my desk. My eyes almost popped out when I realized I had left almost 3 thousand dollars in CASH on my desk and had been dealing with a problem for almost 20 mins. No one touched that money.

I don't think they are without problems, and I know about MS-13 (my latino employee is a Salvadorena, and of course that gang is from El Salvador). I just wonder what my great grandfather from Scotland would have done had he been faced with the kind of silly quota system present day Mexicans face.

Time for bed. Thanks for the interaction.

How do you feel about employers who don't pay social security taxes when they hire illegal aliens?

You mean employers who hire them to work hourly or who 1099 them? If it is the latter (and that is clearly the case for most illegals around here), then they are just legally doing what most contractors do. It should not be the responsibility of businesses to be the tax collector for the fed anyway. Contracted employees (who really are not employees... they work for themselves and not for "me") are responsible for paying their own FICA and witholding and medicare. On that side of things, it doesn't matter if they are legal or illegal. The vast majority of latino workers here are contract employees in construction trades.

As for those who work hourly, most of them are w4/w2 employees with money witheld. I see it quite frequently nowadays, as a lot of these folks are now buying entry level homes (we have such things in NC). They have been having taxes witheld for years, but have no tax filing records. The fed actually does not care, as they don't file but DO pay into the system, supporting both our social programs and the prim morality of freepers who can do nothing but stick their fingers in their ears and recite "illegal, illegal, illegal." I see W2 forms weekly from China Chef, Bert's Landscaping, Kroger, Food Lion, La Cutzaclaya, Eckerds, Payless, Damon's Painting, Marie's Picture Framing, Performance Automotive, and tons of other businesses here.

Most illegals working hourly are no different in what they make and take home than citizens. If you could see past your own bigoted rants (I have seen your post history) and misinformed prejudices you would already know that. They DO pay into our system

Do employers hire "off the books?" Sure. Always have, always will. Am I against it? Sure. But the scenario of 10 million illegals working "off the books" to swell the coffers of the plutocrats while they soak our social programs, create havoc and supply nothing but gang members and drunk drivers is a vision sprung from the fevered minds of some bigoted xenophobes, not from reality.

The problem I have with the cause you seem to have taken up here (do you ever post on anything else?), is that if the REAL problem with you people were the control of our borders, it would be a simple thing to reform our immigration laws to give amnesty to those who can demonstrate regular employment and who have broken no laws other than those related to getting here and hiding from those who want to deport them, and then allowing anyone in who is healthy, has a job waiting and has no criminal background. The fact that hypocrite freepers line up against anything resembling this is proof that they are lying when they proclaim that the problem is not prejudice, but standing on principle ("illegal, illegal, illegal".... hear the drums?).

I am for FREEDOM, OPPORTUNITY, and a chance to make a better life for anyone who has the desire to come here and do so. The USA has always depended on supplies of entry level labor..., even more so now that we have neutral to negative pop growth internally. Further, the attempt to legislate away market forces makes for the crazy legal situation of wanting/needing the benefits of labor, but declaring it illegal. Finally, it puts some of our best future citizens in a permanent underground, rather than encouraging their loyalty and assimilation. Unlike the bigoted knownothings who post LYING CRAP about these people, I actually know them. I help them when I can, and I love them. I find the attitudes of those who want to close the borders and "protect" what has been built on years of open and free market competition to be disgusting, selfish, bigoted, and worthy of contempt.

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