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 ...
I propose federal funding.
John Steinbeck didn't get noticed while working as a third-rate journalist - I don't think Gillian will either. Time to tone down the purple prose. ;)
Residents pay $275 a month to rent a space for a trailer. With utilities, they said, the monthly bill frequently tops $500 ... During peak season as many as 20 people live in some trailers at the park
So that would be $25 per person per month.
Seems somebody among the tenants should be able to scare up a few bucks for some improvements, even if the landlord won't.
Sounds like Tijuana...right down to the wild, roaming dogs.
I propose deportation and the funding of efforts to develop more automation for the agricultural sector. (Cheap illegal labor is why there is little automation in harvesting.)
So go back to Mexico.
“The 110-degree air is thick with large black flies and the stench of raw sewage. Wild dogs prowl the alleys.”
It must remind them of home.
They have housing.......IN MEXICO!
“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.”
Nobody forced you here, you came here, on your own, against our laws, illegally with your penchant for stray wild dog packs, garbage carelessly strewn here and there, turds attracting flies in the alleys and corners of buildings, illiteracy, and piss running down the gutters.
We don’t want 3rd world squalor here, walk your fat illegal butt back to your home country, get involved in the political process or join a revolution and take YOUR country back. Hands off my country, it is fine without you and your raw sewage in the streets. We have enough raw sewage in Washington DC to deal with.
My question is: is it better or worse than what they left? If its worse, than go back. If its better,then whats the problem?
See that dark image on the spider's head. It's in the shape of a tiny violin.
OHHHH the horror .... what an F’n shame. Hey I got an idea .... go home
Let's get back to Constitutional basics here. Where does the federal government get off dictating standards of living to private citizens on private property (anywhere, never mind on Indian land)? And how did our ancestors ever survive without a federal government ordering "proper water, proper sewer, proper electrical"? After all, the latter two simply didn't exist when our nation was undergoing its founding and geographical expansion, and "proper water" was hit or miss in the form of natural streams, rivers, and lakes, and wells dug by people themselves for their own use.
Too bad. You mean Carlos Slim won’t build you a nice house??? Oh I forgot. Mexico exports its POVERTY, not its money....
I see no good reason the government should subsidize these workers. I feel badly about their situation - but the people who hire them should pay for a decent place for them to live and with a decent salary they could even pay rent.
Sure, prices may go up - but what's the difference if things cost more - or it comes out of pocket by taxing everyone.
There should be no slave labor to benefit those who profit from it.
I'm still waiting for true shantytowns to start popping up in the US. It seems like we are importing everything else from the Third World.
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