Posted on 08/04/2005 11:22:24 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
FARMINGVILLE, N.Y. (AP) - This middle-class Long Island community an hour from New York City and 2,000 miles from the Mexican border has become an unlikely flashpoint in the national debate over illegal immigration, with Hispanics beaten, harassed and evicted in recent weeks.
For more than a decade, immigrants from Mexico or Central America have been drawn to Long Island by the prospect of jobs. Many stand on street corners in Farmingville, waiting for contractors, landscapers and others to offer them a day's work at about $10 an hour. Then at night they go back to their illegally overcrowded single-family homes.
The immigrants, many of whom are believed to have entered the country illegally, have been source of tension among longtime residents since at least the late 1990s, but things have gotten worse this summer - so bad that the head of the Mexican Consulate in New York City said Farmingville was "clearly a red zone after the Arizona border" in the abuse of immigrants.
In late June, two men were charged with a hate crime for allegedly berating a Mexican woman and her husband as the couple backed their van out of a parking lot. Within weeks, two more suspects were arrested and accused of yelling racial epithets and throwing a beer bottle at a Hispanic day laborer.
That same day, four people demonstrating at a 7-Eleven in support of day laborers were arrested when they surrounded an anti-immigration protester's car and refused to let him out.
Police are also investigating an attack in nearby Patchogue on a 61-year-old Ecuadorean man. He was beaten by three men who supposedly asked if he had a green card.
The tension was ratcheted up in mid-June, when officials in the town of Brookhaven, which includes Farmingville, and Suffolk County police began evicting men from overcrowded houses, citing health and safety violations. Dozens of people were jammed into the tiny one-family homes.
So far, at least six houses have been shut by authorities - including three last Friday - leaving more than 100 men homeless, advocates said.
Advocates claimed the immigrants have been thrown into the streets without warning. One advocate called it "ethnic cleansing."
"Many local officials have punted, saying this is a federal issue and we can't do anything about it. Well, there are some things you can do," Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy responded. "Crack down on those contractors, crack down on illegal housing and create a better relationship with immigration officials."
Levy complained that it is the Mexican government's "failed policies, both economically and otherwise, that have been pushing millions of his residents over the border for a better life in America."
Arturo Sarukhan, head of the Mexican Consulate in New York City, agreed that Mexico needs to solve its economic problems so that its citizens do not leave for a better life in America. But he said officials on Long Island must realize that the day laborers are here to stay and "there is a need to work together."
"At the end of the day, they may or may not like it, but it is the reality," he said.
A spokeswoman for the Town of Brookhaven estimated there are 150 houses, each with dozens of suspected illegal workers, in Farmingville, though some landlords have pre-emptively evicted some tenants for fear of trouble with the law.
"If they're going to throw anybody out of an apartment, they have to give them time," said Carlos Tenorio, a 26-year-old day laborer from Mexico City who has been in Farmingville for about nine months. "These people are not the cause of the problem."
Farmingville saw immigration-related violence a few years ago. In 2000, two Mexican men were beaten by two locals who promised them work. On the Fourth of July 2003, a Mexican family barely escaped with their lives after teens set their house ablaze by shooting fireworks through a window. But tensions appeared to ease after three of the assailants were sent to prison - two of them for 25 years to life.
Residents are largely cheering the crackdown on immigrants.
"I think they are doing a terrific job," said Terry Sherwood, who complained that residents in the jammed houses often drink late into the night and urinate and defecate on lawns and backyards. "I don't care who they are, what color they are. I don't care where they come from. Why should people have to live this way?"
Lisa Marino placed a Mexican flag on her front lawn in solidarity with the workers but also applauded efforts by officials to curb illegal housing.
"There's a lack of assimilation," she said of the workers. "You don't leave garbage out, you don't whistle at neighbors. They need to understand that, but by keeping them marginalized, they don't learn that."
Nadia Marin-Molina, an advocate for the day laborers, understands the concerns expressed by neighbors, but insisted "it's a two-way street."
"Some of these same people who are complaining are the people who benefit from the work these guys do," she said. "Because every house has landscaping done, or has to have some job done on their roof, or some painting done."
Ethnic cleansing: when 50 illegals share the same bathroom.
Same old one note Samba from the quisling songbook. You and your fellow travelers just never tire of flacking for the illegal aliens.
All of the loyal American conservatives around here are getting pretty tired of you and your GOP Big Tent gaggle of RINO geese.
Not a true conservative among you.
You can now resume your hispandering...
When are we going to see Chuckie Cheese Schumer or Hillary Rotten Clinton do something about this?
What do the police say when neighbors complain about this?
How? Am I supposed to go from beer joint to beer joint trying to get someone to work?
The illegals don't seem to have any communication problems making themselves available for work and they don't even speak English.
Just what are these people you say would gladly work doing all day? Do they expect potential employers to come to their house and drag them out of bed?
Accept the fact that there are men who will not work as long as they can live off their parents, wives, girlfriends, welfare, drug dealing, stealing, etc...
" given the high levels of unemployment among the segments of society in direct competition with illegals "
Now where did you see that statistic? Every employer I know is begging for employees. Unemployment is lower overall than is economically desirable and severe labor shortages exist in some sectors. Anyone who doesn't have a job today doesn't want one very badly.
"Police are also investigating an attack in nearby Patchogue on a 61-year-old Ecuadorean man. He was beaten by three men who supposedly asked if he had a green card. "
gee what bravery 3 men against an old dude
First, if there are no ads for these jobs - and if they're filled by picking up illegals off the streets, who would ever place such an ad? - then the people who need work aren't going to know about it. Somehow McDonalds and Burger King and other fast-food restaurants manage to remain staffed paying many of their workers as little as $6/hr - so I seriously doubt there'd be too few potential workers at $10/hr.
Even if there are, let's face it - it costs a business as much to hire an American at $6/hr as it does to hire an illegal at $10/hr, because hiring an American brings the burdens of complying with the law, whereas hiring an illegal brings no such burdens. Plus, the cost of the illegals are subsidized by all sorts of folks who pay taxes but get no benefit from the illegals' presence.
Furthermore, it is simple economics to know that having so many illegal workers depresses the pay of legal ones. It is simply not just that one person should have to share the costs of our country hosting illegals so that another person can get cheaper landscaping. Let costs be what they would be without the illegals - we'll survive, and probably be a good deal better off for it.
TB has already shown up in the schools.
My cousins moved from LI 3 years ago, after 2 kids (yes, illegals) were found to have TB.
I say, shut down those houses, kick them out and do it in 10,000 more towns across America.
I think the boiling point is getting very low for this. I pulled into a Wendy's last week, to get lunch. Right as I parked, a white van parked and 10 very dirty men, very dark-skinned men got out of the van to go inside.
I jammed my van in reverse, and hauled outta there.
Next day, I told the owner of the Wendy's that any time I see illegals, I'm not going to be eating in the same place - I don't want their diseases. He just shrugged his shoulders.
At least they aren't behind the counters here, as they were in No. VA but yes, I am disappointed that there are any here. The hurricane repair work (all that carpentry, and roofing work) brought them into an area of FL where heretofore, they were non-existent, and hope it goes back that way! So far, they are only living in motels and going "home" on weekends. I sure hope the housing market has priced them out of this market. I don't want them staying around. I saw only too well what they did to Prince William and Fairfax County in No. VA. Disgusting.
Oh - wait - Bayourod will show up and fight me over this. Is he off of suspension yet? Rats, I hope not.
Good post, TnT...
There's a reason for illegal laborers being here, we need the labor.
Sorry but I don't buy this BS anymore........it should be we need CHEAP labor.
The times editors don't live in Greenwich and New Canaan, too waspy for them. They live mostly in NYC and Westchester County.
You are so full of frijoles it ain't funny.
You are a joke, why not do the work yourself? Are you too lazy yourself?
Those of us who don't speak Spanish are in a world of hurt because we simply can't find any day laborers at all, period.
If the people who spend all day on FR complaining about illegals talking all the jobs were to make a sign saying "I speak English" and stand on the same corners as illegals they would have more job offers at the wage they demanded than they could handle.
Where do you find your day laborers?
I do it the old fashioned way. I do my own day labor.
Most of the time I do even though I would gladly pay someone else $20 an hour to do it for me. But I can't do some of the jobs by myself. You must never have had to make repairs or do cleanup or move equipment or furniture that required two people. You're lucky to have such a sheltered life.
I don't use any "day laborers". If I have labor to do, I do it myself, or have friends help, or hire a legitimate business to do the work. And if supply and demand drives prices up, so be it, I'm willing to pay more to keep my country intact. Moreover, at US wages I bet that lack of "day laborers" would dry up very fast. And we wouldn't have to import tuberculosis and crime to do it.
If an American yells a racial slur in English at a Mexican and the Mexican cannot understand English is that a violation of the Mexicans civil rights
And if the Mexican can understand it, then it is a hate crime.
Un-god-damn believable!
Well I don't have any friends that I would insult by offering to hire them to do day labor type work. How much do you pay your friends to clean out rental properties where tenants left old broken furniture, appliances tires, and to help you replace doors, fixtures and appliances?
I would be insulted if one of my "friends" offered to pay me to do that type work.
It so saddens me to see a place where I grew up, where I spent the first part of my professional career, going to "seed" like this.
I guess the truth is, the Hispanic "problem" of them not paying attention to zoning laws, and staying in houses, 12 - 30 at a time, has become a national problem. I had the problem with a rental property in Falls Church, VA, but I didn't know LI had gotten this bad. Pity.
More and more I am thinking that this is a problem that we have to force our CongressCritters to pay attention to, and that we have to let our President know - that we do not agree with how they have sided with "big" business for cheap labor, whether it is H-1B's, or almost slave labor such as these illegals, but it is time to close our dang borders, shut our doors, count who's here legally, and send the rest packing.
The fact that 2/3rds of them had records just disgusts me. But why would we expect them to obey "any" of our laws, zoning or felony, if they start out by being ILLEGAL? They've broken the law to be here, and they know it, so they show a casual disregard for our laws in every aspect of American life.
I, for one, am tired of it.
I hope everyone calls their Senators and their Congress Critter and lets them know: "Time to shut our borders, time to stop the hiring of these illegals, time to get serious."
Whew. Sorry - I just get so disgusted at how we have become overrun while our elected representatives sit in DC and ignore us. How dare they? It must be time to kick a few out for their positions (it's how Abrahams (R-Mich) became Sec. of Energy bec. he lost his Senate seat over the H-1B problem. Of course, the unfortunate part of that is that a (D) was given the election, and it helped to change the balance of the Senate.) But, it's like no one paid any attention to the message we were trying to send, that how you vote and what you do in DC COUNTS!!!!
(I didn't and never have lived in Michigan, but as an umemployed engineer, who was put out of work over a different "immigrant" problem, the incredible number of H-1
B [technical guest worker Visas] who come here to take our jobs, I fought for accountability in the Senate.)
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