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AnAmericanCitizen
Guest
Illegal immigrants "self deport" as woes mount
PHOENIX (Reuters) - Mexican illegal immigrant Lindi sat down with her husband Marco
Antonio in the weeks before Christmas to decide when to go back to Mexico.
She has spent three years working as a hairdresser in and around Phoenix, but now she
figures it is time to go back to her hometown of Aguascalientes in central Mexico.
"The situation has got so tough that there don't seem to be many options left for
us," Lindi, who asked for her last name not to be used, told Reuters.
The couple are among a growing number of illegal immigrants across the United States
who are starting to pack their bags and move on as a crackdown on undocumented
immigrants widens and the U.S. economy slows, turning a traditional Christmas trek
home into a one-way trip.
In the past year, U.S. immigration police have stepped up workplace sweeps across the
country and teamed up with a growing number of local forces to train officers to
enforce immigration laws.
Meanwhile, a bill seeking to offer many of the 12 million illegal immigrants a path
to legal status was tossed by the U.S. Congress, spurring many state and local
authorities to pass their own measures targeting illegal immigrants.
The toughening environment has been coupled with a turndown in the U.S. economy,
which has tipped the balance toward self deportation for many illegal immigrants left
struggling to find work.
"It is still just a thought, although we are preparing to leave," said Ernesto
Garcia, a carpenter from Caborca in northwest Mexico, who stood in line at the
Mexican consulate in Phoenix this week for paperwork that will allow him and his
family to resume their lives south of the border.
PACKING THEIR BAGS
There is no tally of the number of illegal immigrants who have already left the
United States, many of whom simply head south over the border with their belongings
packed into a car during the annual Christmas exodus, or board scheduled flights for
other destinations.
Mexican consular sources in Phoenix say they are seeing a spike in the number of
immigrants applying for Mexican citizenship for their U.S.-born children, which will
allow them to enroll in schools in Mexico.
They are also seeing a rise in requests for papers enabling families to carry
household belongings back to Mexico, free of import duties.
Members of the Brazilian community in the U.S. northeast, meanwhile, say they are
starting to see an increase in the number of illegal immigrants heading back to their
homes in Brazil in recent months.
"They are beginning to put in the balance the constant fear of being detained and
deported, and many are deciding to leave," said Fausto Mendes da Rocha, executive
director of the Brazilian Immigrant Center in Boston.
Other returning immigrants cite a slowdown in the U.S. economy as a factor, and the
falling value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies, which has eaten into the
value of remittances sent to support families at home.
Aluisio Carvalho, 66, left a wife and four children behind in Brazil in 2001 when he
set off to find work in Boston. Since then, he has managed to pay for the education
of his children by working in a restaurant, but is now planning to leave himself in
February
"Salaries are really low, and living costs are high. We also face too much
exploitation at work here, too many demands," he said.
MOVING WITHIN THE UNITED STATES
While some illegal immigrants are simply self deporting, others are moving within the
United States to avoid federal immigration raids and pro-enforcement measures passed
by a patchwork of state and local authorities.
Among them are undocumented immigrants in Marshalltown, Iowa, where Mexicans and
Central Americans workers at a Swift & Co meatpacking plant were arrested during
coordinated immigration raids across six states a year ago that netted hundreds of
employees.
Moses Garcia, a U.S. citizen who came from Mexico 18 years ago and knew many of the
families affected by the 2006 raid through his church and real estate work, said most
of the workers have left to other states, not back to Mexico.
"They feel like they are not welcome here," Garcia said. "They go to Minnesota,
Atlanta, Nebraska, California."
In Arizona, where some specially trained sheriff's deputies already enforce
immigration laws and a new state law sanctioning businesses hiring undocumented
workers is due to come in to effect January 1, many illegal immigrants are eyeing a
move to states they see as less hostile.
Among them is day laborer Fernando Gutierrez who trekked illegally into the desert
state 18 months ago from Mexico, and is now thinking of joining a cousin working in
Oregon in the Pacific northwest.
"Everyone lives in fear of the police stopping you for some minor infraction and then
asking for your papers," Gutierrez said as he touted for work in the chill morning
air at a Phoenix day labor site.
"I want to get as far away from here as possible."
(Additional reporting by Adriana Garcia in Washington and Andrea Hopkins in
Marshalltown; Editing by Eddie Evans)
PHOENIX (Reuters) - Mexican illegal immigrant Lindi sat down with her husband Marco
Antonio in the weeks before Christmas to decide when to go back to Mexico.
She has spent three years working as a hairdresser in and around Phoenix, but now she
figures it is time to go back to her hometown of Aguascalientes in central Mexico.
"The situation has got so tough that there don't seem to be many options left for
us," Lindi, who asked for her last name not to be used, told Reuters.
The couple are among a growing number of illegal immigrants across the United States
who are starting to pack their bags and move on as a crackdown on undocumented
immigrants widens and the U.S. economy slows, turning a traditional Christmas trek
home into a one-way trip.
In the past year, U.S. immigration police have stepped up workplace sweeps across the
country and teamed up with a growing number of local forces to train officers to
enforce immigration laws.
Meanwhile, a bill seeking to offer many of the 12 million illegal immigrants a path
to legal status was tossed by the U.S. Congress, spurring many state and local
authorities to pass their own measures targeting illegal immigrants.
The toughening environment has been coupled with a turndown in the U.S. economy,
which has tipped the balance toward self deportation for many illegal immigrants left
struggling to find work.
"It is still just a thought, although we are preparing to leave," said Ernesto
Garcia, a carpenter from Caborca in northwest Mexico, who stood in line at the
Mexican consulate in Phoenix this week for paperwork that will allow him and his
family to resume their lives south of the border.
PACKING THEIR BAGS
There is no tally of the number of illegal immigrants who have already left the
United States, many of whom simply head south over the border with their belongings
packed into a car during the annual Christmas exodus, or board scheduled flights for
other destinations.
Mexican consular sources in Phoenix say they are seeing a spike in the number of
immigrants applying for Mexican citizenship for their U.S.-born children, which will
allow them to enroll in schools in Mexico.
They are also seeing a rise in requests for papers enabling families to carry
household belongings back to Mexico, free of import duties.
Members of the Brazilian community in the U.S. northeast, meanwhile, say they are
starting to see an increase in the number of illegal immigrants heading back to their
homes in Brazil in recent months.
"They are beginning to put in the balance the constant fear of being detained and
deported, and many are deciding to leave," said Fausto Mendes da Rocha, executive
director of the Brazilian Immigrant Center in Boston.
Other returning immigrants cite a slowdown in the U.S. economy as a factor, and the
falling value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies, which has eaten into the
value of remittances sent to support families at home.
Aluisio Carvalho, 66, left a wife and four children behind in Brazil in 2001 when he
set off to find work in Boston. Since then, he has managed to pay for the education
of his children by working in a restaurant, but is now planning to leave himself in
February
"Salaries are really low, and living costs are high. We also face too much
exploitation at work here, too many demands," he said.
MOVING WITHIN THE UNITED STATES
While some illegal immigrants are simply self deporting, others are moving within the
United States to avoid federal immigration raids and pro-enforcement measures passed
by a patchwork of state and local authorities.
Among them are undocumented immigrants in Marshalltown, Iowa, where Mexicans and
Central Americans workers at a Swift & Co meatpacking plant were arrested during
coordinated immigration raids across six states a year ago that netted hundreds of
employees.
Moses Garcia, a U.S. citizen who came from Mexico 18 years ago and knew many of the
families affected by the 2006 raid through his church and real estate work, said most
of the workers have left to other states, not back to Mexico.
"They feel like they are not welcome here," Garcia said. "They go to Minnesota,
Atlanta, Nebraska, California."
In Arizona, where some specially trained sheriff's deputies already enforce
immigration laws and a new state law sanctioning businesses hiring undocumented
workers is due to come in to effect January 1, many illegal immigrants are eyeing a
move to states they see as less hostile.
Among them is day laborer Fernando Gutierrez who trekked illegally into the desert
state 18 months ago from Mexico, and is now thinking of joining a cousin working in
Oregon in the Pacific northwest.
"Everyone lives in fear of the police stopping you for some minor infraction and then
asking for your papers," Gutierrez said as he touted for work in the chill morning
air at a Phoenix day labor site.
"I want to get as far away from here as possible."
(Additional reporting by Adriana Garcia in Washington and Andrea Hopkins in
Marshalltown; Editing by Eddie Evans)