Edalgiere
New member
BY BART JONES
STAFF WRITER
June 21, 2005
The man from Mexico City said he came to Farmingville looking for work so he could give his wife and two children a better life back home.
Yesterday, he found himself homeless in the land that was supposed to fuel his dream. He was among dozens of Mexican day laborers evicted from 33 Woodmont Place in a crackdown on overcrowded housing by authorities.
"We're going to sleep in the street," the man, shaken by the eviction and unwilling to give his name, said in Spanish. Another worker, Francisco Penelopez, 27, summed up the immigrants' grim mood when he said, "This isn't the American dream. It's the American nightmare."
They were standing beneath a tree next to the few possessions some of the workers could gather before Suffolk County Police rushed them out of the house about 12:30 p.m. Amid the piles were three duffel bags full of clothes, sneakers and stuffed animals, along with a television, a stereo and DirecTV equipment.
Many of the workers had no chance to gather their belongings because at the time of the eviction they were working or standing on street corners, hoping for work.
The raid drew mixed reactions, with immigrant advocates decrying it, while some neighbors cheered it on.
While saying they don't support overcrowded housing, the advocates argued that throwing dozens of men out with no place to go was inhumane. They said town officials should have had a relocation plan and characterized the raid as part of a wider offensive against Latino immigrants by Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy.
The advocates warned the action might re-ignite tensions in a community that has already seen the attempted murder of two Mexican day laborers in 2000 and the firebombing of a Mexican family's house in 2003. They also said it was a repeat of a scene in 1998 when Mexican day laborers were evicted from a house in Farmingville and ended up on the lawn of the Roman Catholic Church of the Resurrection.
"Suffolk County is becoming a war zone on immigrants," said Darren Sandow of the Jericho-based Unitarian Universalist Fund. Levy's move "is cheap gimmicks used to get votes. The unfortunate thing is that humans are the pawns."
Latino activist the Rev. Allan Ramirez of Brookville Reformed Church, who was trying to help the men find a place to sleep last night, said, "Mr. Levy has simply started his own personal campaign of ethnic cleansing in Suffolk County. ... He is fanning the flames, the flames of hatred."
Levy denies targeting immigrants, saying he is out to enforce the law. He said the house was in violation of numerous building codes, and that residents should not have to put up with badly overcrowded houses.
Asked at a news conference yesterday where the tenants would go, Levy shrugged and said anyone eligible for assistance would receive it. As for anyone else, he said, they would have to find someplace else.
Inside the house after the raid, a box of Frosted Flakes and a bowl of beans sat on the kitchen table, while a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe - the patron saint of Mexico - looked down from a shelf where a candle was still burning. Outside, the men said they didn't enjoy living in the cramped conditions, but they had no choice because they can't afford apartments. "We only come here to work," one man who gave his name as Silverio said in Spanish
this was not to far from where i had my video store.
STAFF WRITER
June 21, 2005
The man from Mexico City said he came to Farmingville looking for work so he could give his wife and two children a better life back home.
Yesterday, he found himself homeless in the land that was supposed to fuel his dream. He was among dozens of Mexican day laborers evicted from 33 Woodmont Place in a crackdown on overcrowded housing by authorities.
"We're going to sleep in the street," the man, shaken by the eviction and unwilling to give his name, said in Spanish. Another worker, Francisco Penelopez, 27, summed up the immigrants' grim mood when he said, "This isn't the American dream. It's the American nightmare."
They were standing beneath a tree next to the few possessions some of the workers could gather before Suffolk County Police rushed them out of the house about 12:30 p.m. Amid the piles were three duffel bags full of clothes, sneakers and stuffed animals, along with a television, a stereo and DirecTV equipment.
Many of the workers had no chance to gather their belongings because at the time of the eviction they were working or standing on street corners, hoping for work.
The raid drew mixed reactions, with immigrant advocates decrying it, while some neighbors cheered it on.
While saying they don't support overcrowded housing, the advocates argued that throwing dozens of men out with no place to go was inhumane. They said town officials should have had a relocation plan and characterized the raid as part of a wider offensive against Latino immigrants by Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy.
The advocates warned the action might re-ignite tensions in a community that has already seen the attempted murder of two Mexican day laborers in 2000 and the firebombing of a Mexican family's house in 2003. They also said it was a repeat of a scene in 1998 when Mexican day laborers were evicted from a house in Farmingville and ended up on the lawn of the Roman Catholic Church of the Resurrection.
"Suffolk County is becoming a war zone on immigrants," said Darren Sandow of the Jericho-based Unitarian Universalist Fund. Levy's move "is cheap gimmicks used to get votes. The unfortunate thing is that humans are the pawns."
Latino activist the Rev. Allan Ramirez of Brookville Reformed Church, who was trying to help the men find a place to sleep last night, said, "Mr. Levy has simply started his own personal campaign of ethnic cleansing in Suffolk County. ... He is fanning the flames, the flames of hatred."
Levy denies targeting immigrants, saying he is out to enforce the law. He said the house was in violation of numerous building codes, and that residents should not have to put up with badly overcrowded houses.
Asked at a news conference yesterday where the tenants would go, Levy shrugged and said anyone eligible for assistance would receive it. As for anyone else, he said, they would have to find someplace else.
Inside the house after the raid, a box of Frosted Flakes and a bowl of beans sat on the kitchen table, while a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe - the patron saint of Mexico - looked down from a shelf where a candle was still burning. Outside, the men said they didn't enjoy living in the cramped conditions, but they had no choice because they can't afford apartments. "We only come here to work," one man who gave his name as Silverio said in Spanish
this was not to far from where i had my video store.
