SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2017
Dreamers
from 1A
The Pew Research Center
looked at the kinds of jobs illegal
immigrants take, and found that
the majority were focused on
lower-skilled, low-paying jobs.
The study, which surveyed
workers between 2012 and 2015,
found that only 0.5 percent of
U.S.-born
workers
were
employed in farming, fishing or
forestry, while four percent of
unauthorized aliens work in those
fields.
These numbers are of particu-
lar concern to the Siuslaw region,
as these industries have been its
lifeblood for decades. As the
industries
declined,
the
economies of towns like
Mapleton and Swisshome were
virtually decimated with closures.
While some local officials are
working to bring back these jobs,
the industry is not completely
gone. And the ones that do
remain are having difficulty fill-
ing positions.
Florence resident and Dreamer
Javier, who prefers to remain
anonymous, has seen this first
hand when working in the log-
ging industry.
“I’m not taking anybody’s
job,” Javier stated. “Whoever
wants to work, they should work.
Nobody wants my logging job.”
The Siuslaw News confirmed
with one of the largest employers
in the area, that Javier’s assess-
ment was sound.
“It’s not just logging,” one
employer stated. “Manual labor
jobs are almost impossible to fill
in industries that require hard
physical work.”
“You know how many people
who have been hired on (to
Javier’s job) and they’ve only
lasted a day?” Shirley, Javier’s
wife, asked.
“There’s open jobs,” Javier
agreed. “They call me from
Reedsport and ask if I want to
work. I say no, I’m already work-
ing. They ask if I know if any-
body wants to work. No, not right
now, I say. Logging is hard and
not everybody can do it.”
Florence resident Ian Eales,
who is an immigrant from
Canada, believes that problems in
filling jobs are an issue with how
youth view working. .
“We have two, maybe three
generations who have never done
any physical work,” he said. “I’m
not blaming the kids, but they
don’t have to do anything.
They’ve never been required. For
the people that make just a mid-
dle class wage, their kids don’t
have to do anything. You see 6
year olds with iPhones. I think
we’ve kind of lost the plot and the
value of doing something.
“They have no concept of what
it takes to pull yourself up, which
the immigrants really do,” he
continued. “I had a friend who
came from Cuba with a dollar in
his pocket and the shirt on his
back, and he made it.”
There is evidence to back up
Eales’ views.
In a recent survey by the
National Association of Home
Builders (NAHB), of Americans
18 to 25, 43 percent of respon-
dents said they would never work
in construction trades no matter
what the pay level was. Forty-
three percent said they would
only work in the industry if they
made over $75,000.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics
found that the medium wage for
construction laborers was only
$33,000.
The most popular trades for
this age-range are business man-
agement, IT/technology, medical,
marketing and media. Half of the
respondents stated that they
wanted a “less physically-
demanding job.”
To summarize, immigrants
aren’t taking away manual labor
jobs; Millennials just don’t want
them.
As far as immigrants coming
over illegally, people have differ-
ent views.
“I think everybody should go
through the (legal) process,”
Shirley said. “I don’t think it
should be ‘You’re legal because
you’re here.’ It’s a long, hard
process that (Javier’s) going
through. And he’s paid a lot of
money for attorneys and done a
lot of paperwork, but I think that
everybody should have to do that.
I like the idea with them commit-
ting no crimes. And a probation
period. I think that’s important
too.”
If Javier, who arrived as a child
from Mexico, knew someone
who was thinking of coming into
the country illegally, he would
tell them not to.
“It’s not okay. I wouldn’t tell
anybody to come up here right
now. Maybe if I had a son who
was close to me, I would try and
bring him up legally.”
For Eales, who overstayed a
visitor visa from Canada, the
issue is not as cut and dry.
“Life is a risk. If they’re will-
ing to take that risk and come in
and suffer the consequences, if
you think you have something to
offer and you can make it work
and you can get by an impenetra-
ble system, then by all means, get
here.”
“That’s the contradiction,” he
continued. “There’s a billion
rules. We don’t spit on the side-
walk. We don’t drive through red
lights. This is a personal thing
that will not hurt anyone else. I
always said, my rights end at the
end of your nose. If you do some-
thing that hurts someone else,
then you should stop. If I don’t
think that my coming here is
going to hurt anyone and will
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ultimately be a benefit, and be a
huge benefit for people, then it’s
the greater good. There’s no
black or white. It’s conscious.”
That “impenetrable system” is
becoming even more impenetra-
ble by the day. According to the
National Visa Center, as of
November 2016, more than 4
million immigrants are awaiting
permits to enter the country.
Immigrants can wait 10 years, or
more, for permits.
This is not to say Eales is
against strong border security, an
issue that has received bipartisan
support for decades.
For Javier and Shirley, border
security is a big issue, but not
because people are here looking
for jobs.
“I’m more concerned with all
the drugs that are coming in
here,” Shirley said. “I think there
is a difference between people
wanting to come over here and
make a life and get away from the
poverty and the drugs and the
gangs. The ones who are coming
over here and committing a lot of
crimes, and bringing a lot of
drugs, then I don’t think that’s
okay.”
In their mind, stronger border
security would be a good thing.
While Javier came here for
education, he fears being deport-
ed because of the violence in
Mexico right now.
“Right now, you can’t even
walk on the streets. I hear from
my grandma, my aunts, that in
our little town, everybody needs
to be inside the house by 9
o’clock,” he said. “Nobody walks
outside. They’ll pick you up,
they’ll take you away, and we
won’t see you anymore. They’ll
‘disappear’ you.”
Javier and Shirley hope that
the border is secured because, if it
isn’t, the same problems from
Mexico will seep into America.
In that regard, they’re more
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refugees than immigrants looking
for work.
Getting rid of criminals has
never been a point of contention
in the political debate, but even
that conversation can be mud-
died.
On
March
26,
2017,
Immigrations and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) conducted a
raid in Florence. Four men were
arrested, one of whom Javier
knew well.
The incident sparked a debate
among the Florence community
regarding the immigration poli-
cies of President Trump, and
whether or not the city should
become a protected sanctuary of
illegal immigrants.
For those in favor of the
action, their argument was that
federal laws were being enforced.
For those against, it was the
federal administration turning
Florence into a police state.
Javier and Shirley didn’t see
the ICE incident in the black and
white terms they felt many of the
arguments were taking.
While the Siuslaw News was
unable to confirm Javier’s
account, he stated that one of the
arrestees was warned that ICE
was coming.
“ICE got (the arrestee) twice,”
Javier said, the first time being
five years ago.
“The first time, they took a lot
of guys, but they let a lot of guys
go because they were good peo-
ple with clean records. But he got
a couple of DUIs. He spent two
months in jail, but he got a lawyer
and they let him out.”
The arrestee worked with his
lawyer to get a work permit, but it
didn’t go through.
“The lawyer told him that he
would be taken to court,” Javier
said. “He didn’t believe that they
were going to come pick him up.
And for a long time, nothing hap-
pened.”
Until ICE came and arrested
him.
“There were people who said
that he didn’t have a criminal his-
tory,” Shirley said. “I think I
should have said something, just
so they could see both sides of
why ICE was here. That they just
weren’t taking good people, inno-
cent people off the streets. That
there was a reason behind it. I
think some people got a little
worked up about it who didn’t
know his history.”
Neither Javier nor Shirley dis-
agreed with ICE’s actions.
“ICE aren’t bad people.
They’re just doing their job,”
Javier said.
The March incident highlight-
ed the often polarized debate sur-
rounding immigration, with ille-
gal aliens and Dreamers cast
either as victims or villains.
But for Javier and Shirley, the
debates over “sanctuary” aren’t
prevalent in their day to day lives.
For Javier, what is important is
the fact that his DACA renewal
hasn’t gone through yet.
In September 2016, Javier was
submitting his DACA renewal.
His permit wasn’t about to expire
— it’s still valid for another five
months — but the process can
take so long that it’s better to
apply early.
“He normally had his attorney
do it for him, but he was trying to
save money so we did it our-
selves,” Shirley said. “It was just
two papers. It passed. They took
our money and said everything
was OK. It was only supposed to
be 90 days.”
Javier nervously said, “I was
supposed to get my stuff, but
haven’t yet. Now I’m getting
nervous because I should have
got in and I haven’t got it. The
first time I did it it took a year.
But since I already did it it was
supposed to be faster and easier
11 A
to get it. But it’s taken about the
same time. I was hoping to get it
within months.”
This is what keeps Javier up at
nights; not the fear of deportation
by the Trump administration, but
a fear the bureaucratic delays will
force him out of the country.
This isn’t to say that Shirley
and Javier are completely out of
the loop when it comes to poli-
tics. Since immigrant issues
gained national headlines, Javier
has been following the issues
more closely.
“We were never really big on
politics,” Shirley said. “My fami-
ly, when I grew up, they didn’t
vote. Here in Florence, they set a
fire in me to educate myself and
learn more about politics. Not
just this, but with everything. It’s
important. We just get so busy
and caught up in our daily lives
that we forget what’s going on
around us.”
And it’s the politics that are
enveloping the nation.
This week, a flurry of national
news came out on DACA.
On Wednesday, Democratic
leaders spoke of a meeting they
held with Trump in which they
said a deal had been reached that
would tie DACA to stronger bor-
der security funding.
On Thursday, Trump and
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-
Wis) stated that a deal had not
been reached. Trump then sug-
gested any DACA deal would be
tied to the construction of a bor-
der wall.
But on Friday, reports from
multiple news agencies surfaced
stating a deal had in fact been
reached
Dealing with the Democrats,
particularly without Republican
input, led to consternation among
some of Trump’s party. The inter-
net meme “Amnesty Don” began,
with videos of supporters burning
their red “Make America Great
Again” hats being posted.
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) said of
his DACA decision, “Trump’s
base is blown up, destroyed,
irreparable and disillusioned
beyond repair.”
This was after the LA Times
Editorial Board ran the headline,
“Ending DACA was an Act of
Pure Cruelty by Trump.”
These were the same argu-
ments bandied about when the
Dream Act was first introduced in
2001, though now the situation is
more precarious with deeply
divided political parties, a polar-
ized media and president who is a
political neophyte.
If the Dream Act couldn’t be
passed during the Bush and
Obama presidencies, will it have
any chance in such a politically
charged environment?
When asked what a possible
solution would be, Javier paused
to think. After a moment, he
shrugged, simply stating, “I don’t
know.”
Eales stated, “It’s a mess.”
But both believe the start
would be a civil, fact-based con-
versation between all viewpoints.
“I think it should start with
baby steps with your neighbors,”
Shirley said. “Within the commu-
nity, you know? There’s just so
much hate in the world, it’s really
sad.”
When asked what they would
say to each other if they sat down
together, Eales said, “I consider
myself to be a good and decent
human being.”
Javier would say, “I’m a nice
guy. I don’t do any crimes. I
understand if I was bad like a bad
person, making all kinds of
crimes. You would have a right to
deport me. But I’m not.”
But the first thing Eales would
say to someone like Javier?
“I would ask them if they
would like a coffee.”
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