Area faith and business leaders gather to discuss immigration reform

Local business and religious leaders gathered in Salinas Monday to discuss the impact immigration has on the region and the need for federal immigration reform.

The event, held at the California State University, Monterey Bay at Salinas City Center, was organized by Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action, or COPA, a nonprofit organization of 28 member institutions that work to address social issues in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties. There were more than 50 people in attendance.

The Rev. Robin Mathews-Johnson, a COPA leader from the Watsonville First United Methodist Church, delivered the welcoming and focus of Monday’s immigration discussion, largely regarding the working population of people living illegally in the region.

“The people in our communities are afraid — many undocumented and even other folks — are very afraid of current policies,” she said. “We would like to have a discussion about that and look at what options are within the community to keep our community safe.”

The day’s event was meant to “demonstrate that it is possible for people with a diverse set of interests, backgrounds faiths and political persuasions to collectively seek a practical solution on an issue that affects our region,” according to a COPA press release.

In a study from the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research group, between 2010 to 2014, there were an estimated 69,000 people illegally living in Monterey and San Benito counties, while Santa Cruz County had a population of 20,000 people illegally living there. 

The three counties combined have a higher population of people illegally living there than 25 other states.

Mathews-Johnson cited previous work COPA has done, like its countywide pilot program that seeks to expand healthcare coverage for people living here illegally. 

“We’re not here to make political splash,” Mathews-Johnson said. “We really want to sit at the table with people in power to come up with solutions that can help solve problems.”

She added that COPA’s ultimate hope is to make an impact at the congressional level.

Business leaders who spoke included Don Chapin, president of the Don Chapin Company, Monterey Plaza Hotel vice president and general manager John Narigi, Tanimura & Antle’s vice president and general counsel, Wesley Van Camp, and Scudder Roofing president Pete Scudder.

They represented construction, hospitality and agriculture industries, all of which rely heavily on immigrant, lawful and unlawful, workers.

Rabbi Paula Marcus of Temple Beth El of Aptos facilitated the discussion. Bishop Mark Holmerud, another COPA leader from Sierra Pacific Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, also participated on the panel.

Marcus asked panelists a series of questions regarding immigration.

The business panelists described major issues with a declining workforce due in part to current immigration policy, along with other pressing matters like regulation for Chapin and housing on the Monterey Peninsula for Narigi’s hotel workers.

Agriculture has historically relied on immigrant labor, Van Camp said.

“So without a workforce that is an immigrant population and would want to work in agriculture, we’re really left struggling as an industry," she added.

Van Camp did say H-2A work visas, which provide temporary seasonal workers for agricultural employers, have helped the industry, but they do not contribute to local communities in the same way as longer-term labor.

“Our big concern is the white Anglos, the young kids, they don’t want to work in the business,” Narigi described of the hospitality industry.

Marcus later asked them to share personal experiences with immigrant workers or customers — to which panelists brought up stories of their workers.

According to Holmerud, “I feel like there are hundreds of people probably represented around this room, people you also know, that have been deeply affected by this unjust immigration policy.”

Chapin said that many members of his company have faced subsequent issues with tax reporting for wages because of immigration status using false documentation, which often goes unchecked. 

“It disrupts their lives. It disrupts the lives of their families," he said. "It disrupts the lives of our entire company. It is such an unfair process. In fact, I always say there is no process.” 

When asked about their message to government for immigration reform, the panel similarly echoed a response of finding a real solution for their workforces.

Scudder agreed but added a caveat: “We also have a criminal element out there,” pointing to prison and jail populations impacted by gangs in the region.

“As a country, how do we bring the right people over and keep the bad ones out?” he added.

Most research continues to show immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the native-born population, as stated by a January fact check by the Washington Post.

Later, the discussion turned to the audience. In groups, attendees talked about their reactions to the panel, before reconvening to share some attendees’ findings and personal stories.

Paz Padilla, immigration specialist for the Catholic Charities Diocese of Monterey, gave her perspective from more than 18 years of work. She said trust is a major issue with her clients. 

Because multiple families often live in one home due to cost of living on the Central Coast, and fears when Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, does raids at homes or residential areas, more families will be forced into homelessness, she said.
 
Pew Research found that ICE arrests increased in 2017 beginning when President Donald Trump took office, compared to the previous three years. However, last year’s numbers still pale in comparison to former President Barack Obama’s first year in office, when he had nearly double the arrests in 2009.

Another speaker, Nancy Miranda, shared her story of coming to the United States 21 years ago from Mexico and working as a babysitter and in a Castroville packing house.

Asked by Marcus to react to the stories, Scudder began the panel by saying the testimonies were heartwrenching and “we want the best thing for the best people and that’s what we want to see accomplished.”

In terms of making changes, Van Camp said agriculture has been lobbying for immigration reform even though her industry shares a small percentage of total undocumented workers compared to hospitality and construction.

A 2015 Pew Research report showed that, in 2012, unauthorized immigrants worked most in service (33 percent) followed by construction and extraction (15 percent); farming, fishing and forestry had just 4 percent of unauthorized workers. However, unauthorized immigrants comprised 26 percent of the total farming, fishing and forestry workforce, the most of any industry.

“We have an opportunity to expand this conversation and this dialogue across industry sectors,” she said, “and that’s what we need to happen.”

Chapin, who works in construction, quickly retorted, “Let’s make that happen.” The crowd applauded.

“It’s going to be a cultural change,” Chapin added. “But I agree with Wesley, thank you very much for that challenge. I’m going to go back this afternoon and make that happen, somehow.”

Monday’s discussion ended with lengthy remarks from Ernesto Cortes Jr., co-director of the Industrial Areas Foundation, a national community organizing network of which COPA is an affiliate organization.

“You’re going to hire a foreign-born worker one way or the other,” he concluded. “Let’s do it here like it ought to be done: Rebuild the American dream that we’ve always been taught to cherish.”