Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 20 september 2017

Thousands of Haitians find ‘Mexican dream’ near US border

By ELLIOT SPAGAT achieve their dreams.” 10 countries by plane, (a little over $100), mostly California state, which in-
Associated Press Millan, who lived in the Los boat, bus and on foot to for his wife in New York cludes Tijuana. “Our pol-
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Angeles area for two de- San Diego, where U.S. au- City and the infant son he icy is to have the Haitian
Jose Luis Millan found a population do what they
new crop of star employ- need to do to have status
ees at an upscale Tijuana in Mexico.”
car wash where custom- The new arrivals, cur-
ers cross the border from rently numbering around
the U.S. to pay up to $950 3,000, are manageable
to have their prized pos- in a country of 122 million.
sessions steamed and Central Americans, who
scrubbed for hours. They’re come illegally in much
never late, always hustle larger numbers, are typi-
and come in on days off cally deported, although
to learn new skills, traits Mexico is granting asylum
that he says make them more often.Rodin St. Surin,
a model for their Mexican 36, is among hundreds of
counterparts. Haitians who found work at
They are among several Tijuana’s export-oriented
thousand Haitians who factories. CCL Industries
came to Mexico’s north- Inc., a Toronto-based com-
west corner hoping to pany that makes Avery
cross the border before office products for retail-
the U.S. abruptly closed its ers including Staples, Wal-
doors last year. The Mexi- Mart, Target and others,
can government has wel- needed help after moving
comed them, with a visa In this June 6, 2017 photo, Rodin St. Surin, of Haiti, looks on as coworkers talk on the floor of a fac- manufacturing from Merid-
program that helps them tory in Tijuana, Mexico. St. Surin, 36, who left Brazil with hopes of joining a cousin in Miami, earns ian, Mississippi, last year.
fill the need for labor in Ti- 1,500 pesos ($83) for a six-day week but has health coverage, paid vacation and a free shuttle The plant hired St. Surin
juana’s growing economy. to work. He sends his earnings to a caretaker for his three children in Haiti, who he hopes to bring and 15 other Haitians in
In a country whose popu- to Tijuana. May for its workforce of
lation is 1 percent black, (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) 1,700 during peak back-
Tijuana’s Haitians stand cades until he was forced thorities let them in on hu- hasn’t seen. On Sundays, to-school season. They in-
out. They share tight living to leave last year for em- manitarian grounds. he sleeps until the after- spected and packaged
quarters, sending much ploying dozens of people Then President Barack noon and goes to church. binders at the back of a
of their meager wages to illegally at his party plan- Obama shifted course in “There’s so much work in Ti- giant, spotless floor where
support family in Haiti. Hai- ning company, sees par- September and started juana,” he said while a pot machines also churn out
tians earn far less than they allels to Mexicans in the deporting Haitian arrivals. of fish stew with mangoes labels, folders and markers
would in the United States U.S. Their teamwork sets an Many decided to call Mex- and tomatoes simmered around-the-clock.“I’m very
but enough to forsake the example. Some customers ico home. on an electric burner in the comfortable with these
risk of getting deported by ask for them. After struggling as a school- two-room apartment that people,” said Mario Agu-
heading north. Haitians, he says, “fight teacher in Haiti, Abelson he rents with three other irre, the plant’s operations
Two new Haitian restau- hard, fight strong, and they Etienne moved to Brazil in Haitians. “I’ve been treat- director and a 43-year in-
rants downtown serve don’t stop.” 2014 to work at a factory ed very well in Mexico.” dustry veteran. “They have
dishes with mangoes and The Haitians took an ac- that made cable for light- The Mexican government given us very good results.
mashed plantains. Dozens cidental route from their ing products. He arrived is giving Haitians one-year, They don’t miss work, they
of Haitian children attend impoverished Caribbean in Tijuana in December renewable visas that al- always arrive on time.
public schools. Factories homeland to Tijuana, a after a harrowing journey low them to work but We’d like to see the same
that export to the U.S. re- city of about 2 million that with his wife who, despite not bring family. Rodulfo attitude in everyone.”
cruit Haitians, who can also borders San Diego and the U.S. policy shift, was Figueroa, the region’s top The factory offered 1,500
be found waiting tables also has large pockets of allowed in on humanitar- immigration official, says pesos (about $85) for a
and worshipping at con- Chinese and Korean immi- ian grounds, presumably Mexico is practicing what six-day week, with health
gregations that added ser- grants.Brazil and its neigh- because she was seven it asks of the U.S. and other coverage, paid vacation
vices in Creole. bors took in the Haitians months’ pregnant. countries.“We believe that and a free shuttle to work.
“It’s the Mexican dream for after that country’s 2010 Etienne, a 27-year-old who there’s a humanitarian St. Surin, who left Brazil with
many of them, a sense that earthquake. As construc- studied chemistry in col- case to be made for these hopes of joining a cousin
they belong,” Millan said. tion jobs for the 2016 Sum- lege in Haiti, settled into people to find better lives in Miami, sends earnings
“Mexico has given them mer Olympics ended and a routine of six-day weeks in Mexico,” said Figueroa, to a caretaker for his three
opportunity. Mexico has Brazil descended into po- and three double shifts, the National Migration In- children in Haiti, whom he
opened up and let them litical turmoil, they crossed earning him 1,900 pesos stitute’s delegate in Baja hopes to bring to Tijuana.q