Exodos of Latinos in Gainseville: Fleeing from the measures against undocumented immigrants
Found in Mundo Hispanico & GALEO
Written by Mario Guevara
Posted on 2008-11-12

Posted on galeo.org on 11/12/08. Translated by Jonathan Flack, GALEO Intern.

“Exodo de latinos en Gainesville”
Exodos of Latinos in Gainseville

Huyen por las Medidas contra los inmigrantes indocumentados
Fleeing from the measures against undocumented immigrants

By Mario Guevara
MundoHíspanico
10/16/2008

The Mexican José Guadalupe Esparza arrived last Friday at the El Expreso bus station in Gainesville, Georgia, in order to wait for the bus that he would take to Querétaro, México, his birth place. His bags in the back of his friend’s trunk were packed full, showing his intention not to return.

Esparza explained to MundoHispánico that he did not even want to remember his last experiences in Georgia.

“The environment is harsh. The police are out to get the Hispanics. Because of this I prefer to leave and forget it forever,” said the Mexican who spent 5 years living and working in Gainesville.

Like him, dozens of other Latinos with few pleasant memories of their place of residence are abandoning this area and are being uprooted by 287(g). 287(g) is the agreement between the Sheriff’s Office of Hall County and the Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), which provides the local authorities with the power to detain and deport undocumented immigrants.

Antonio Rodríguez, also Mexican, arrived at the terminal by taxi carrying two suitcases, but his destination was the state of Texas.

“I came here from Mississippi 6 months ago because they told me that there would be enough work. I never imagined that the Sheriff would be working with Immigration officials. I became annoyed with the constant fear that is common among the people here,” indicated Rodríguez.

Cases like these are common, according to the manager of El Expreso, Reinaldo Reyes, who explained that since the beginning of 287(g), the sales of tickets to leave by bus have increased.

“Almost every day the bus leaves full: we are selling a minimum of 11 fares to other states daily, especially California, Texas, and certain cities of Mexico. In my six years with the company I have never seen anything like it,” said Reyes.

Churches Suffer

Local religious leaders complained that, since the commissioner Steve Cronic decided to ally with ICE, hundreds of parishioners have abandoned their congregations. Religious leaders also fear the possibility of seeing their ministries close down.

The 287(g) program was ratified April 4th, 2008. The measure permits police to investigate the citizenship status of foreigners that are detained for whatever reason. They can they begin the process of deportation of individuals that are found to be undocumented.

Since then, the English sign of “Welcome to Hall County” that greets drivers on the highways as they enter the county seem to not be directed at the Hispanics, who instead are abandoning the county.

For the priest of the St. Michael Catholic Church of Gainseville, Fabio Sotelo, the actions of the authorities have changed the environment from friendly to hostile and directly affected the family nucleus by separating parents from their children solely because of a lack of documents.

“The problem is that they are not deporting criminals, but rather honorable people that are contributing to the country. These people are honest workers, but because of reasons beyond their control, they are not legal and cannot even obtain a driver’s license,” stated Sotelo.

According to the Columbian, now in Hall County if an undocumented person commits a minor traffic violation he could become involved in a complicated process of deportation. Additionally, he can only free himself from this process if he has enough financial resources to pay for a lawyer, which generally costs 10 thousand dollars.

“I am suffering the repercussions of this bad policy. After the first arrests and deportations, some relatives of the detained had to move. But today complete families are leaving, trying to prevent this situation,” added the priest.

The evangelical pastor Carlos Frías declared that the city is not the same one that he knew two years ago, when he began to direct the Pentecostal United Church of Gainesville.

“Now it’s common to see people walking with their shopping bags, scared of driving because the patrols are more frequent. The town is very different. There are more closed down businesses and houses for sale. The people are leaving, and we are counting on the support of God to make it all better,” admitted Frías.

Controversial agreement

287(g): agreement between the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the local sheriffs departments, that permits investigation of the citizenship status of detained foreigners and opens a process of deportation of those which are undocumented.

Hall county was the third to implement 287(g), April 4th, 2008

Since then there have been 564 people deported, and 91 are in the deportation process right now.