The Brunswick News
Hispanics leaving area in downturnFound in The Brunswick News
EMILY STRANGER
2008-12-03

Over the past several months, Ariel Pina, pastor of Rey de Reyes, a Hispanic church in downtown Brunswick, says he’s seen more and more of his Latino friends leave the Golden Isles in search of new opportunities.

He blames the migration on the sluggish economy that is affecting all facets of the work force, including the construction industry, where many Hispanics found employment in Glynn County.

“I used to organize soccer games at Selden Park and knew everybody there,” Pina said Tuesday. “I can’t find anybody I know there now. They are not here anymore.”

He estimates that almost 1,000 Hispanics have left Brunswick in search of work. “(Hispanics in Brunswick) have started to leave the country or are going other places,” Pina said. “Some are going to Texas and others to Ohio.

“Two or three years ago we used to have 7,000 Hispanic people in Brunswick, and now I don’t even think we even have half that number.”

Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, said Tuesday that many immigrants are leaving the state to find jobs elsewhere.

He blames the slump in the construction sector and the service industry for their departures.

“Those are primarily areas that many migrants were working, both legal and undocumented, that is causing an impact with the migrant population overall,” said Gonzalez.

He said the economy is only one factor, though. Gonzalez said many immigrants are leaving Georgia because they feel unwelcome here.

“Some are choosing to leave because of the hostile environment in Georgia that has been created by politicians that tried to exploit the issue of immigration,” he said.

A perception that Hispanic immigrants are moving out is not shared by Lynn Hall, director of the Latin America Resource Center, a social services agency in Glynn County that assists Hispanics.

He said attendance at the center’s English speaking classes has increased by 75 percent from last year.

“I do have some people who have come in looking for work who had been working in construction and were laid off, but they are just looking for work and not making plans to leave,” said Hall. “They want to stay here.”

Hall said the majority of the Hispanics in Glynn County have lived here five to seven years.

“Most of these people aren’t migrants,” he said. “They have homes, apartments, cars, trucks and are established here. Their extended families live here. If they lose a job, they are going to survive and look for another one locally. They’re pretty darn resilient.”

National data show otherwise, that Hispanic immigrants across the country have been hit hard by the economic slowdown.

According to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center, the unemployment rate for Hispanics in the United States rose to 6.5 percent in the first three months of 2008, mainly because of a downturn in the construction industry.

The center estimates that Hispanics have lost almost 250,000 construction jobs during the past year.

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