Posted on 09/12/2008 6:15:42 AM PDT by Between the Lines
Folks at local Spanish language newspaper Que Pasa are calling it the exodus.
Executive Editor Alejandro Manrique says his reporters see signs of it all over Charlotte...Just this week they printed a feature on Hispanic taxi drivers who are seeing customers disappear.
They say they lose around 50 percent of their customer base.
He says Hispanic restaurants, night clubs, markets, you name it...are reporting drops in customers.
From May '07 to June '08, the Center for Immigration Studies estimates 1.3 million illegal immigrants left the U.S...an estimated 102 thousand of those left North Carolina...Manrique estimates 40 thousand of those left Charlotte.
But why?
Increasing people having lost their jobs, or getting paid less.
The economy is one reason there's less construction and service jobs out there. But that's not the only reason..
If they've committed a crime in our community they're out of here.The 287g program started by former sheriff Jim Pendergraph is part of the reason too. Under it illegal immigrants who are arrested are marked for deportation. It's spread throughout the state.
Also, Manrique says thanks to recent law changes it's now next to impossible for illegals to get licenses or license plates. North Carolina was once a haven where immigrants up and down the east coast came to fraudulently get licenses.
Add all that up and it equals a mass exodus.
I live in NC and I have seen no decrease in the Mexicans at the local Walmart or grocery stores. I hate to go to either on Sat or Sunday.
If they’ve committed a crime in our community they’re out of here.
Every one of them has broken the law just by being here.
I’d like to move to NC...how are the job markets out there?
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