Posted on 08/13/2006 5:29:30 AM PDT by radar101
HOWARD LIPIN / Union-Tribune An estimated 300 people live in McGonigle Canyon, many of whom attend a makeshift Catholic church. The residents face eviction later this month.
Developers pushing illegal inhabitants, their chapel, off land set to become new neighborhood,
In what may seem like déjà vu, people living in migrant camps in McGonigle Canyon will be ordered to move soon.
It will be the latest attempt to clear people living in illegal huts from the undeveloped land between Carmel Valley and Rancho Peñasquitos, an area that is shrinking as it gives way to new houses.
An outdoor chapel with a small stucco altar, pews and a picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe that has served canyon residents for more than 15 years probably will be torn down. This eviction, officials say, could be the last.
“This is an ongoing situation,” said Pam Hardy, spokeswoman for Scott Peters, the San Diego City Council president who is spearheading the current plan to clear the camps. “We hope a coordinated effort this time is successful.”
Peters' office is working with police and at least six landowners in McGonigle Canyon to post no-trespassing signs within 30 days – the date has not been officially set – and begin enforcing them, Hardy said. The landowners include a trust under the name Robert Barczewski, developers Pardee Homes and DR Horton, the city of San Diego, the Poway Unified School District and a group using the name Horseshoe Investors.
Two years ago, camps were removed from the Barczewski and Pardee properties, Hardy said, only to have them to crop up on the DR Horton land, a more interior parcel. That's why Peters contacted all the landowners this time, Hardy said.
Environmental and public health concerns are prompting this latest effort, Hardy said, as well as “increasingly hostile relations between supporters of migrants and opponents of illegal immigration.”
Many of the men living in the canyon are undocumented, though not all, police say. Immigration agents will not be present when the no-trespassing signs are first enforced, said Capt. Jim Collins of the San Diego Police Department's Northeast Division.
An encounter last month between Minutemen and their supporters and a mobile health clinic that visits the camp to treat workers was described by police as a pushing and shouting match that led to no injuries or arrests. But people on both sides said they felt threatened, and men in the camps say they are often harassed by Minutemen filming there.
At least two documentary filmmakers from Los Angeles – one a self-described Minuteman supporter, the other who says he wants to document “the Third World living conditions” in the camps – have spent months filming, too. They describe scenes ranging from men living in huts with snakes and rodents to encampments littered with beer cans and condoms. Nearby residents say condoms found at the camp are evidence of prostitution. Collins said there is no evidence of prostitution or human trafficking at the camp, but said police are still gathering information.
Meanwhile, community groups that offer supplies and medical and spiritual services for the migrant workers say they will follow the men . . . again.
Encampments in McGonigle Canyon grew from a small collection of crude huts for male migrant workers in the late 1980s to a vibrant mini-village also housing women and children by the early 1990s. It was complete with a store, restaurant, political factions which disputed leadership in elections and police problems including domestic abuse. In 1993, there was even a wedding that included a cake and pink and white streamers.
But by 1994, city officials began working with landowners to shut down the enclave because it had grown so large and was considered out of control. About 750 people, including entire families, were moved into apartments, and the camps faded from public view.
Today, as many as 300 people, mostly men, are living in McGonigle Canyon again. There are also a few families, those familiar with the camps say.
Their shelters remain basic, sometimes boxy structures resembling tiny sheds made from scraps of wood or plastic. Often home is just plastic sheeting propped up by trees.
As housing developments spring up around them, the workers' shelters have grown smaller and less conspicuous, said Enrique Morones,director of Border Angels, a group looking for housing for canyon residents. But men still bathe, do laundry and drink out of streams that flow along the canyon floor.
Not far from the camps, a small outdoor chapel that was built by the workers in the early days survives at the base of the canyon near a gurgling stream. Mass is held there on Sundays, usually by a priest from the nearby Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Rancho Peñasquitos. Last Sunday, a crowd of more than 60 men and members of the church gathered for the service in the tiny structure, hidden among the canyon's trees. Church leaders told the men that the days are numbered for the camps in McGonigle, and suggested they move to others farther from public view because there is no available housing.
Church leaders also announced that the chapel, which survived the first big eviction, is scheduled to be dismantled this time. Thelandowner may allow the small structure to stay longer than the camps, Hardy said, or could allow church members time to dismantle it themselves, she said. Church leaders are still holding out hope that it could be remain on the property.
As news of the chapel being closed was announced Aug. 6, votive candles flickered before the image of the Virgin, representing prayers that she will help secure steady jobs, safe families and strong bodies.
“We are the pilgrim church that he founded . . . Our friend Jesus will guide us,” the men sang over the noise of the nearby creek.
Farmworker Jose Antonio Espildora, 17, has lived in the canyon for a year because he cannot afford rent, he said. He's on the verge of completing his First Communion, he said, and has made friends at the Sunday services. He's not worried about moving, he said, as long as he completes receiving the sacrament.
Church leaders tried to comfort the workers.
“All of us are the church, and we move with the church,” community leader Jose Gonzalez told them in the Mixtec language.
After the service, the men were served food, given medical treatment by volunteers and offered small tents to prepare them for their move.
“Maybe these will help you survive,” said Christauria Welland, who has been organizing Mass and other events at the camp for about 14 years.
Over the years, dozens of church volunteers have helped at the chapel. Welland has been godmother to children and young men completing their sacraments there.
“A church is a community,” Welland said. “The place means a lot to me. It's wonderful to see people interact. We share the same faith.”
Police say they are working with the nonprofit group Border Angels to find housing for the men. Morones, the human rights activist who heads the group, said Border Angels has been talking to church and other nonprofit groups to find places, but so far without any success.
At a recent community meeting, Council President Peters told Rancho Peñasquitos residents that the city has hit a roadblock in finding housing, too. The mostly federal affordable-housing money available for families in 1994 has dried up.
Sharon Johnson, Homeless Services Administrator for San Diego, said the city could apply for a $3 million state grant to build farmworker housing. The operational costs for such housing would still be unfunded, though, and there is a larger problem: no place to build.
Johnson said the city owns property in the canyon that was considered for farmworker housing. Five locations were scouted, but each had problems, she said, including land that was not scheduled to remain in agricultural use, an American Indian burial ground, a parcel with no public access and a parcel that included land earmarked for wetlands preservation. The active search is over.
“This is one of those times when it just didn't come together,” Johnson said.
At least one resident of McGonigle Canyon is planning to move before the no-trespassing signs go up.
“There isn't much work,” said Romulo Muñoz, 41, from Oaxaca. If he can't afford to rent an apartment soon, he said, “I'm thinking of moving back to Mexico.”
Elena Gaona: (760) 737-7575; elena.gaona@uniontrib.com 
Well, they did say 'illegal inhabitants'.
"What about trespassing. littering, Health Code Violations, etc?"
And the fact that most of them are 'undocumented'.
Well, of course not. What makes anyone think ICE does anything to warrant their paycheck.
They hide behind the Catholic Church, pretending to be faithful church-goers while breaking the law.
In the Godfather Michael Corleone stood godfather to his nephew while the murders he ordered of fellow gangsters were taking place. Nice depictions of the "Our Father" and gunshots taking place in the same time frame. The baptism was his alibi. He pretended to be the good church-goer all the while being a monster.
Make it uncomfortable for illegal aliens and you've got a ringer.
ping
The Border Angels would do well by these guys to buy them bus tickets home. Life at home can't be much worse than living in a box and at least they would be with their families.
They got this quote wrong:
“increasingly hostile relations between supporters of migrants and opponents of illegal immigration.”
It should read:
“increasingly hostile relations between supporters of criminal immigrants and those who wish the laws to be upheld.”
There. Fixed it. . .
Living in the the squalor and filth that Americans refuse to do.
Maybe God is trying to tell him something?
sw
I agree with you, however, Sheriff Joe is in Maricopa County.
Immigration agents will not be present when the no-trespassing signs are first enforced, said Capt. Jim Collins of the San Diego Police Department's Northeast Division.Can you spell h-i-s-p-a-n-d-e-r-i-n-g?
“There isn't much work,” said Romulo Muñoz, 41, from Oaxaca. If he can't afford to rent an apartment soon, he said, “I'm thinking of moving back to Mexico.”
And that right there is THE ONLY WAY the Criminal Alien problem will ever be solved. Take away the jobs.
Good analogy! But don't send us your illegals, we have our own, tank you vaddy much : )
Right, but we learn about "illegal huts." Those huts should be arrested.
That's 300 down, 12 MILLION more to go.
What we have here is a group of illegal immigrants with no understanding of the concept of private property. The fragility of property rights in Mexico is one of the reasons their home country is such an economic basket case. Also, everyone involved seems to be unclear on the concept of the rule of law.
San Diego Police's favorite Quote:
"We can't do that."
(Applies to anything you ask for)
Oops. Thanks for the correction.
Question: is he a Maricopa Indian? His name sounds Indian.
But, but, but, YOU guys put'em in prison.
We just give'em state services. :o)
Aw, c'mon, just a few million or so. You'll hardly notice. I promise.
Sorry, don't have a clue.
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