Posted on 07/20/2005 10:56:08 PM PDT by Happy2BMe
Associated Press
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.
"I didn't want to lose it," he said. "It was sweat from my brow."
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.
O'Connell said he was swayed more by the plight of Chavez's son than the money.
"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.
"In Mexico, who will pay me $500 a week?" he asked.
Yeah, thriftiness and stamina. It's more likely that he was able to save that much by not paying taxes for most of the time he was here and by taking all of the taxpayer freebees that were available. You can bet he pulled in free medical care for both himself and his son, free education for the son and whatever other taxpayer funded handouts the various states were giving him.
Confiscate the money to pay for some of those services.
"It is disgusting that we deport these hard-working Christian people."
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You guys would have loved the LULAC convention this year . .
>"You guys would have loved the LULAC convention this year"
Ha! I don't think so, Happy!
;^D
Let me be CLEAR:
I'm not for the gubmint confiscating anyones hard earned cash, be they legal, or illegal immigrant, citizen or not.
I'm for abolishing the IRS, not giving them more power.
Look, my FRiend, you know I'm on the same side of immigration as you, don't you?
But many of the folks here on this thread want to see this guys money conficated, and given to...the federal government???
Well, as I said, if he earned it working, and it wasn't stolen, or ill-gotten...let him keep his money...and send him back to Mexico.
Regards
A state of duplicity reigned supreme . .
==================================
Main Entry: du·plic·i·ty
Pronunciation: du-'pli-s&-tE also dyu-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ties
Etymology: Middle English duplicite, from Middle French, from Late Latin duplicitat-, duplicitas, from Latin duplex
1 : contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action; especially : the belying of one's true intentions by deceptive words or action
2 : the quality or state of being double or twofold
3 : the technically incorrect use of two or more distinct items (as claims, charges, or defenses) in a single legal action
Please
I don't know many minimum wage workers who have saved 31,000 dollars. Actually, about 12 million citizens have declared personal bankruptcy in the last 10 years.
After reading your post, I would think that "CLOSE THE F*&%ING WELFARE STATE!!" would be more productive for you.
I will say again that mimimum wage US citizens do not directly pay fica or income taxes to any significant degree. Illegal immigrants at the same low income level pay about the same taxes as US citizens at the same low income level.
yep...
and if you multiply $500 a week times 30 plus years then this "thrifty" person saved less than 4% of their income.
jw
Just because you don't know of any American workers who have done this doesn't mean that none of them have done this. And based on the facts in the article, we only know of one foreign worker who has done this.
I hope he declared it on his way out.
"I live and work with these people daily."
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How many of these people are on your payroll, sir?
"I will say again that mimimum wage US citizens do not directly pay fica or income taxes to any significant degree."
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Do you deal with these type issues on a regular basis, sir?
none. Next question?
"Our time will come with the will of a vengeful God, you selfish hypocrites."
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Can you please be more specific, sir?
Yes, please. Do you know of any employers who do have them on their payrolls, sir?
Or maybe he actually worked more than 40 hours a week. 40 hours a week is a vacation to a guy like this.
Have you told the illegal's that you consider them to be spics ?
Don't bother telling me what you think of Germans, Itallians or Blacks because I'm sure I already know the answers to that. With an racist attitude such as you have, you will always be a chronic_loser.
Don't bother replying to me. I don't care to debate with racists.
he now forms part of the Mexican Consulate's illegal immigrant relocation program - he'll show up in another US city with a new identity before long.
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