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City racial and economic cleansing

By Patrick Osio, Jr./HispanicVista.com

   October 15, 2006

 

  

 

City racial and economic cleansing

By Patrick Osio, Jr

The city of Escondido’s Ordinance No. 2006-38 has become the cause cèlébre for both the hard line anti and pro illegal immigrant rights groups. The ordinance calls for criminalizing renting living quarters to illegal immigrants under the premise that federal law prohibits the harboring of illegal aliens. And, since “state and federal authorities lack the resources to protect the citizens of the city of Escondido” the law is a must to fulfill the city’s obligation to its citizens, so say proponents.

Opponents say this is nothing short of city racial and economic cleansing.

Opponents of the ordinance are right.

Be it by intention or the unintended consequences of a bad law – in the end it is nothing more than an attempt at racial cleansing of a city and getting poor families out.

The claim that the city needs to enact such a law because the federal government cannot protect the city’s citizens is pure rubbish and a ridiculous attempt at justifying such bigoted legislation.

The Census estimate is that there are about 12 million illegal immigrants in the US, around 6.5 million from Mexico, leaving around 5.5 million from countries other than Mexico. The Escondido ordinance targets only those from Mexico and the aim is to concentrate only in the poorest neighborhoods where Latino families are concentrated.

This by any definition is discriminatory legislation and thus bigoted.

It is no accident that since the enactment of the law, only landlords in the heavily populated Latino side of town are the ones calling city officials to obtain information on how to proceed. No one from the non-Hispanic sections of town is worried. Why? Simply because they know they will not be challenged to present proof of citizenship or residency legal status – as long as they are “white.”

During the 1980s and much of the 1990s, Escondido was hell bent on growth, approving housing tracts and commercial centers with a fury that made it one of the fastest growing cities in San Diego County. In such days, low cost labor was welcomed. The city never objected, those workers needed to live somewhere, but they were not welcomed anywhere so they settled in the “rundown” section of the city where other Latinos who worked in the city’s fruit groves had long ago settled.

The city is now nearly all built up so the need for much of that labor is not vital, and those neighborhoods could be upgraded if only such poor people didn’t live there.

The ordinance makes reference to federal law forbidding the “harboring” of illegal aliens attempting to justify city law. However, federal law also prohibits “hiring” illegal aliens, but there is no mention of making it illegal to hire or to have workers who are not able to provide proof of citizenship or legal residency status in the city.  

Presumably then, it’s OK to work but not live in Escondido under such a law. So why would the city choose to force landlords to verify immigration status of tenants, but not business to do the same?

The ordinance provides that landlords failing to comply would lose their city business license. Well, businesses must also have city business licenses, the verification process would be the same with the same penalty.

The reason is the obvious. Many businesses need cheap labor without which they would not survive. Typically, however, such businesses using cheap labor have those who earn more, some much more, who are not illegal immigrants, but it’s the cheap labor of the illegal immigrant that makes it possible for the higher wages to be paid. Those businesses closing, through compliance or as a penalty for non compliance, would cause unemployment for many who are part of the mainstream work force.

So the bigotry of Escondido city will play out in the national stage wherein eventually a court, at a great cost to Escondido tax payers, will remind small town legislators that discriminatory practice by any name or under whatever excuse is forbidden by the US Constitution.

The country can only hope that the City of Escondido will not give final approval to such gross abandonment of American principles.

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Patrick Osio, Jr. is Editor of HispanicVista (www.hispanicvista.com). Contact at: POsioJr@aol.com

 

(The opinions expressed by Patrick Osio, Jr. are solely his and do not necessarily reflect those of HispanicVista.com, editorial board of advisors or it’s contributing writers.)

Patrick Osio, Jr. has written a short but intensive manual on the Mexican perspective on numerous issues between our two countries. The manual is an in depth primer on the culture and protocol for better understanding Mexicans that in turn allows establishing personal and business relationships, and how to avoid the most common faux pas that can ruin relationships and business deals.

The manual is available through Electronic delivery for $9.95 making it possible to download the manual for save on your hard drive, printing its entirety or particular sections while reaping considerable savings over printed copies.