Posted on 08/13/2007 12:37:32 PM PDT by SmithL
Thermal, Calif. (AP) -- Life is harsh for the 4,000 migrant workers who live in the Desert Mobile Home Park, where hundreds of dilapidated dwellings sit along dirt streets. The 110-degree air is thick with large black flies and the stench of raw sewage. Wild dogs prowl the alleys.
But conditions could get even worse if the federal government follows through on its threat to close this site on a sun-baked Indian reservation because of rampant health and safety violations.
"Where are we going to go, where are they going to put us?" asked Angelina Cisneros, 59, who lives with her family of four in a crumbling sea-green trailer. "We don't have any money."
The fertile Coachella Valley is one of the nation's richest farming regions and home to five-star tourist destinations such as Palm Springs. But the thousands of migrant workers who toil in the fields struggle to find housing. On annual wages of just $12,000, many families can afford only squalid homes.
Desert Mobile Home Park is unusual because it's located on the Torres Martinez Indian Reservation beyond the reach of state and local governments.
Thus far, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has not been able to provide any alternatives for residents, even as it prepares to ask a federal judge next month to order a phased closure of the park over four months.
The judge could agree or instead demand that the owner make repairs or put the park into federal receivership.
The bureau is working with county officials to find alternative housing a daunting prospect in a region southeast of Los Angeles where demand quickly overwhelms the 200 or more affordable units that come on the market each year.
"There's no easy answer, and I wish there was,"...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
“Where are we going to go”
Home??
That thought was kind of drifting around the back of my mind.
Count me among the unsympathetic.
You would be surprised how many of these places there are across the U.S. We have a few of them where we live. Hubby (ex-fire captain) tried and tried to get one shut down that was in his response area. Never happened.
Finally the local news took notice and one of our County Supervisers went out there and took some ‘poor’ illegal who was pregnant and had 3 kids out and got them government housing elsewhere. They should have shipped her butt to Mexico instead.
Makes me furious that they are allowed to turn areas into just what they came from.
RockinRight wrote: “So go back to Mexico.”
I read the entire article. Maybe I missed it, but nowhere did it state the migrants were here illegally. Isn’t a migrant worker someone who moves frequently depending on where crops need harvested? That’s doesn’t preclude them from being US citizens and/or legal residents does it?
If they aren’t here illegally, I’m more sympathetic to the migrants. It appears the problem is the trailer park owner who charges $275 per spot (on a 40 acre park), but refuses to build the proper infrastructure. I don’t understand how the federal government is involved, maybe something to do with it being Indian land, but government has a legitimate right to regulate land use.
Try building a trailer park in any city in America. You can’t just dump your raw sewage and garbage so that it harms your neighbors.
I too am more sympathetic to those here legally. I guess my argument was more that if it’s so bad here, why did they come?
I uderstand that there are lots of dwellings in mehico.
Several years ago when we lived in E. TX we got lost on a small road that probably wasn’t even on the map. I swear, we saw a place that looked very much like the picture you posted. It was near where there were alot of greenhouses and I suspect it was workers for the greenhouses. I suspect they were illegal, but there wasn’t any way to know.
susie
I flew to Thermal, CA for my long cross country. 110 in the shade. Couldn’t wait to leave that mess.
"Where are we going to go, where are they going to put us?" asked Angelina Cisneros, 59,
Awwwwwwww Angelina not to worry. Just call this guy, he has a lot of extra room in his house - AND he likes illegals. Plus he says we neeeeeeed you.
Michael Chertoff
202-282-8000
(NOT sarcasm!)
Brown Recluse...nasty.
...been there, done that, got the big scar on my foot. Almost an amputation. I make it a point to de-molecularize every friggin spider I see now.
Got ya beat today...it was 114 just a couple of minutes ago when I walked out front (we're probably 20 miles from Thermal)
Wow, I've been to Thermal. That's a pretty ugly destination for a cross country flight. Why did you go there? I would have tried for one of those airports worthy of the proverbial "$100 Hamburger".
The illegals wouldn’t come here if they couldn’t find work. My anger is mostly directed at those Americans who subvert the law by aiding the illegals. In my opinion, it’s all about greed. Legal migrants aren’t paid what they’re worth, because illegals are undercutting wages. Even worse, if you’re an employer who cares about your employees and tries to follow the law, you’re competing against other employers who are able to undercut you (by hiring illegals). Shutting off the flow of illegals would be an excellent way to help our poorest Americans.
If your business DEPENDS on these migrant workers, to where they must be imported to this country, the business should take the responsibility of housing them. Perhaps these farmers can put in dormitory style housing on their property. It is not mine nor anybody elses obligation to supply housing for a private industry.
There--fixed it.
yet another sympathy piece. :(
We once did have several shanty towns in the United States. Central Park was once comprised of something resembling a Favela back in the Depression.
Many years ago my flight instructor gave me Thermal as the long leg on my mandatory cross country flight. I had to fly from Santa Monica airport to a destination greater than 100nm. Palm Springs is just shy of the requirement so on to Thermal. Hot Hot Hot.
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