Posted on 12/08/2008 3:08:59 AM PST by Glenn
Father Jesus David Trujillo Luna says he has seen “too many” of his Hispanic parishioners leaving Dalton’s St. Joseph’s Catholic Church this year.
“I’ve had more than 50 families ask me for a blessing before they left,” he said. “These are families that have been here 15, 20 years. Their children were born here and raised here.”
Why are so many people leaving?
Trujillo says the recession and layoffs in the carpet industry have forced them to look elsewhere for work.
“They tell me there’s no work here. They’ve been looking for a couple of months and can’t find a job,” he said.
Aaron Moore, president of Dalton’s Latin American Community Alliance, says he wouldn’t call it a mass exodus of Hispanics.
“But it’s certainly what you might call an arterial bleed,” he said. “Many of our Hispanic families like many of our other low-income families live paycheck to paycheck, and as soon as that paycheck isn’t coming in on a regular basis, as soon as there are just a few weeks of unemployment, then they have to start looking for something to replace it.”
Where are they going? Trujillo says two destinations stand out: California and Mexico.
“Some of them have told me they are going back to California. One of the reasons is that the have family there,” he said.
Many of them have gone back to Mexico, and Trujillo says many of the children, especially the older children are not happy about that move.
“Mexico is a foreign country to them. Some of them don’t speak Spanish that well,” he said. “I know of one girl whose family moved back to Mexico. She had been in this country 16 years. Her Spanish is very weak. She basically speaks English.”
Trujillo says those children have moved with their families, but he says some of them have told him they planned to come back as soon as they could.
“This is their home,” he said.
Moore says he doesn’t believe that most of those who have left the area have gone to other countries.
“Most of the stories I here are that they are returning to the more migratory work that they may have had previous to coming here and that they are mostly looking within the United States,” he said. “They already know that the economy being as poor as it is in their home country they are not likely to find anything in their home country. That’s why they came here. Probably eight or nine out of every 10 I here of leaving this area are planning on moving to other parts of the United States.”
But local schools and other agencies say they haven’t seen sign of a large-scale Hispanic flight.
The number of Hispanic students in Whitfield County Schools, for instance, slipped to 4,503 in November from 4,633 in November 2007. But the number of Hispanic students in Dalton Public Schools actually rose slightly, to 4,391 in October from 4,320 in October 2007.
“I haven’t seen a lot of families leaving. I have a lot of families struggling, more than ever, but that is across race and ethnicity,” said Jackie Taylor, a social worker with Dalton Public Schools. “We have more people enrolling than withdrawing every day.”
To some extent, the Hispanics who are leaving this area may be balanced out by those coming in. Trujillo says that he has seen people coming to Dalton, from areas where the economy is even worse off, looking for jobs or staying with family members here.
And Moore says that in many families, the father’s have left the area looking for work and planning to bring their families when they find something.
“I do have lot of families that are doubling up, that are trying to make ends meet,” she said.
But Taylor adds that those families come from all racial and ethnic groups.
Doug Phipps, interim executive director of the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center, says that facility’s Hispanic dances have taken a big hit this year. He says those dances had once been one of the trade center’s top 10 revenue sources.
“In years past we would normally do eight to 10 (Spanish language) dances a year. We’ve only had two this year, and the two we had were not well attended,” he said. “That comes down to discretionary income and possibly relocation.”
On the other had, he says, the trade center’s quinceanera business has stayed steady, perhaps even increased this year. Quinceaneras are parties to celebrate a girl’s 15th birthday.
The flight of Hispanics from Dalton, as well as the general impact of the recession, has taken a bite out of Hispanic businesses, says Moore.
“Mom and pop type stores, community based businesses, tend to be very fragile and highly dependent on the economic situation of their immediate surrounding area,” Moore said. “I have spoken to several shop owners who, if they have not already closed up shop, are saying it won’t take much more for them to be forced out of business.”
Good post Glenn, let us know when the Lib Papers start the personal sob stories of these ‘Bleeders’ aka Illegal Aliens aka Parasites. I especially like what Aaron Moore, president of Dalton’s Latin American Community Alliance, says he wouldn’t call it a mass exodus of Hispanics,
“...it’s certainly what you might call an arterial bleed”!
Yeah these Illegals have been bleeding the Taxpayers dry and now need to find another Host to bleed.
Wow, an upside to the downside. For Ga anyway.
Does this mean that if the US became involved with an extreme military conflict of draft quality that all the mexicans would go to Canada? er.. I mean back home?
Not wanting that to happen, but when I gotta deal with a non english speaking dolt, I’m gonna raise hell cause I refuse (and don’t have to) take it anymore.
Don’t let the door hit you in the ass!!!! (Chatsworth for 24 and a half years)
Good! Get these illegal reprobates out of my country! I don’t care how they leave just as long as they leave. Maybe now American citizens can find a job.
Hispanics? Or illegals?
Sounds like illegals. If they were legal, I highly doubt they’d be moving back to mexico.
I hate how the media reports this as “hispanics” rather than “illegals.” The racist liberal mainstream media.
Not just carpet mills, but the landscapers have been decimated by the drought and economy. Combine that with tough new laws here in the State and the welcome mat rolled up.
If they were legal, it wouldn't be newsworthy.
All the jobs went off shore.
I hate how the media reports this as “hispanics” rather than “illegals.”
The reason the Tribune and many other papers are going out of business. They just don't seem to understand the principles of journalism: That of reporting just the facts and letting the readers draw their own conclusions.
I don't think the owners and the editors understand it either. They are too eager to want to influence your thinking with their garbage libralsim.
” The reason the Tribune and many other papers are going out of business. They just don’t seem to understand the principles of journalism: That of reporting just the facts and letting the readers draw their own conclusions.
I don’t think the owners and the editors understand it either. They are too eager to want to influence your thinking with their garbage libralsim”
Crash and burn. CRASH AND BURN.
they don’t seem to be leaving my area of atlanta. what with wik, free
health care and new schools, they seem to be doing fine.
Illegal or not, it is telling that these people actually get out and look for work. Compare that to the true societal parasites who lay around waiting for the mailman to deliver the monthly welfare checks and food stamps.
They’re rude, crude, and socially unacceptable. I’ve been shamelessly felt up in public, had my rear end grabbed, had little boys attempt to lift my wallet, seen my mother get doused with paint in full view of a mall full of ppl. It may be marginally better that they work rather than not, but the piggish manners far undo any “good” this does.
Ship em all back, breathing is optional.
I know, it sucks. ILLEGAL ALIENS....see, that was easy, lol.
True.
I don't believe that Hispanics or other low income families have a monopoly on looking for work, few weeks after losing their job. As a matter of fact, I would think a person being aware of an impending job loss would start looking before they even get the pink slip.
Well, ya gotta give ‘em one thing. They’re sitting on their butts waiting for some gov’t agency to bail ‘em out.
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