Mexican immigrants moving back home amid sour economy

Chicago Tribune, ^ | December 25, 2008 | Oscar Avila

[HollyButler]

ZINAPECUARO, Mexico — Once again, the immigrants are returning to this town in their Pathfinders and Escalades with the Illinois license plates, trunks full of Christmas presents.

Their annual December homecoming has always been a victory lap of sorts, a testimonial to the success they enjoy in the U.S. and want to share with relatives who welcome them with open arms.

Rafael Garcia is back from Chicago too, but not for a vacation. He's back for good.

In a sign of how the American dream has lost its luster this Christmas season, the stream of Mexicans making holiday visits has been joined by a trickle of citizens returning permanently to towns like Zinapecuaro as jobs disappear in Chicago and other U.S. cities.Garcia arrived Sunday in a battered Ford van jammed not only with gifts but with every scrap of the life he built during 12 years as a construction worker on Chicago's North Side. In a gravel parking lot a block from his mother's home, Garcia's life in the Lincoln Square neighborhood was unspooled with each box he unpacked.

DVDs of " Spider-Man" and bullfighting. A power drill. A framed family portrait. A half-consumed bottle of House of Stuart whiskey.

As Garcia secured his van, his brother-in-law offered advice as if he were a tourist. "No need to worry. No one steals things around here," he said cheerily.

In some respects, Garcia was pushed out of Chicago, where he was working illegally. All but six of the 18 laborers at his construction company lost their jobs with the real estate bust. Garcia survived, but his hours were cut to the point that he and his wife barely covered rent and child care.

But the 41-year-old Garcia was also pulled home, to the mother who is already preparing the Christmas

[HollyButler]

Mexican officials, meanwhile, are bracing for more Rafael Garcias and the strains that might be felt on villages accustomed to sending immigrants and receiving a share of their paychecks in the U.S., a figure that topped $25 billion last year-25 billion is a small price to bemoan over considering we spend billions upon billons on healthcare,schools,prsions.etc,etc. I wish them well and may they stay put.

[doc1019]

There is a down side to this?

[Moonman62]

Once again, the immigrants are returning to this town in their Pathfinders and Escalades

Those jobs that Americans won't do must pay well.

[HollyButler]

You know as well as i do when A, Obama makes them legal they will return in droves or B,when the job market improves they again will return in droves.For now they are all just sitting there doing time in Mexico until they may return and make the dollar grow again as far as I can see

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Invaders have raped the public as much as they are able.

Some leave but too many stay to kill, rob, rape and molest
children.

[doc1019]

I would be most happy if they left in droves (what ever a drove is). I would be willing to buy several “droves”, if it would help rid us of all the Illegal aliens that are currently occupy our country.

[John Jorsett]

I can predict the next recipient group for a federal bailout.

[AirForceMom]

Only down side is the Escalades and Pathfinders that will be missing payments.

[angkor]

>>>>12 years as a construction worker on Chicago’s North Side.<<<<<<<

The wave of illegal aliens from Mexico undercut hourly wage rates in the unskilled and semi-skilled trades like construction work by at least 50 percent over the years.

By any measure available - CPI, Average Wage Rate, inflation - hourly wages for construction laborers should be $22 to $28 per hour and not the $12 to $15 that illegals have been getting for the last decade.

Basically illegal alien laborers drove American workers out of the construction business.

[Paulus Invictus]

They don’t appear to be leaving here yet and we have as many as 15K in this small city. They even have soccer leagues and many Mexican markets. The Catholic Church made this town a secure sanctuary and has influenced the City Fathers to bend to their wishes. The pols talk the talk re illegals but do nothing about them.

[JRios1968]

[chicagolady]

Hasta La-BYE-BYE

Don’t let the door hit you in the Dupa!

[HollyButler]

Have you ever heard the term the gangs drove the people right out their homes because they posed great danger ? Have you ever heard massive crime drove the people right out of neighbour hood.Have you ever heard no job, no money,no food,drove the people away as there is nothing there to want to remain. ? I am sorry and didn’t realize drove was a very complexed word to grasp.I am very sorry to express myself using the word drove.I was wrong and I will reframe not to use it again.Please forgive me for being blonde and using words that are hard to understand. Again I am very sorry

[Rastus]

Bring on Depression! Maybe they’ll all split.

[BlessedBeGod]

Good riddance!

[farfromhome]

Tax free income doesn’t hurt either.

[AUsome Joy]

You really haven’t heard the term “leaving in droves”? They are leaving in droves around here also. I have been asking for months where have all the Mexicans gone. We still have a lot, but the building industry is so depressed here there is nothing for them to do. I used to see truckloads working in our area and also many more driving through to another job. I knew they went home for Christmas, but they usually come back. I guess for now they are staying home.

[Rockitz]

Supposedly the way out of the coming depression is through spending on infrastructure. Accordingly, when the construction jobs come back, so will the illegals.

[I see my hands]

HollyButler

Adios repatriating criminals, don't let the San Salvador hit your Oaxacas on the way out!

MERRY CHRISTMAS
HollyButler