{"id":251114,"date":"2016-12-23T08:42:16","date_gmt":"2016-12-23T15:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=251114"},"modified":"2017-01-10T06:48:38","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T13:48:38","slug":"in-texas-undocumented-immigrants-have-no-shortage-of-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/12\/in-texas-undocumented-immigrants-have-no-shortage-of-work\/","title":{"rendered":"In Texas, undocumented immigrants have no shortage of work"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_251182\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-251182\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ConstrctionWorkers-Lead_jpg_800x1000_q100-771x514.jpg\" alt=\"Construction workers\" width=\"771\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ConstrctionWorkers-Lead_jpg_800x1000_q100-771x514.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ConstrctionWorkers-Lead_jpg_800x1000_q100-336x224.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ConstrctionWorkers-Lead_jpg_800x1000_q100-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ConstrctionWorkers-Lead_jpg_800x1000_q100.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Michael Stravato \/ The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers on a project in Houston on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Though it&#8217;s illegal, brothers Israel and Jos\u00e9 Martinez have no shortage of work, moving from one construction job to the next in the ongoing building boom of Central Texas. They\u2019ve worked on homes in affluent communities along the Upper Colorado River and renovated sprawling apartments in North Austin. They were on a crew that erected a new health center at a high-end retirement community, and as expert masons have built luxury pools, interior chimneys and backyard grilling stations.<\/p>\n<p>Their compensation often falls below minimum wage. They might receive just $90 for a 14-hour workday, or about $6.42 an hour \u2014 and that\u2019s when they do get paid. On more than a few occasions, the brothers have gone days, weeks and even months without receiving payment for their grueling labor.<\/p>\n<p>In all their years in Texas, Israel and Jos\u00e9 \u2014 pseudonyms, since both asked that their real names not be published \u2014 have experienced a lot. One thing they say they haven\u2019t seen: U.S. citizens doing the heavy lifting on construction projects.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article originally appeared in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2016\/12\/16\/undocumented-workers-finding-jobs-underground-econ\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Texas Tribune<\/a>,\u00a0a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. It\u2019s part of the news organization\u2019s \u201cBordering on Insecurity\u201d series.\u00a0The Texas Tribune is taking a yearlong look at the issues of border security and immigration, reporting on the reality and rhetoric around these topics. <a href=\"http:\/\/apps.texastribune.org\/bordering-on-insecurity\/\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up to get<\/a> story alerts.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve never seen any Americans carrying cement, picking up stone, working from sunup to sundown,\u201d Israel said. \u201cNever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is the economic and social reality in which the brothers, and millions of other unauthorized immigrants, find themselves \u2014 a country so reliant on cheap labor that substantial portions of the economy are built largely on the backs of immigrants willing to do work most Americans won&#8217;t, and for lower pay.<\/p>\n<p>The United States, and Texas in particular, has beefed up border security in recent years to keep immigrants out while paying less attention to one of the main factors drawing them here: There are almost always jobs waiting for them, even if securing and maintaining those jobs becomes a test of physical and emotional endurance.<\/p>\n<p>Various loopholes, backdoors and private arrangements allow undocumented workers and their employers to skirt the prohibitions on hiring workers illegally.<\/p>\n<p>Workers pay hundreds of dollars for fake Social Security cards or other documents to show employers, or they work as independent contractors so they don&#8217;t have to show any documents at all.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Employers aren&#8217;t required to verify the authenticity of documents they are shown or obligated to check the immigration status of independent contractors.<\/p>\n<p>Many undocumented immigrants also find informal work paid in cash under the table, often at rates far below minimum wage, and the employer can pretend they were never hired.<\/p>\n<p>Operating in the shadows of this clandestine labor market puts the workers in a vulnerable position: Yes, jobs are plentiful, but only in exchange for working long hours for low pay and little recourse against unscrupulous employers who cheat or exploit them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an underground railroad,\u201d said\u00a0Jos\u00e9 Manuel Santoyo, 24, who grew up undocumented in Corsicana where he said he never had trouble finding work.\u00a0\u201cEverybody where I grew up in Corsicana knew where to go find employment if they needed it and if they were undocumented. It\u2019s a network of people that are wanting to help each other so that everybody can have jobs and opportunities. When you\u2019re in survival mode, you\u2019re willing to do any job.\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Santoyo says he\u00a0worked at the Sonic Drive-In at the edge of town on Highway 287. He says he\u00a0held jobs at McDonald\u2019s, a pizza joint and the Home Depot distribution center before it relocated to South Dallas. He also worked for a few months one Christmas season at the famed Collin Street Bakery, a mainstay of Corsicana known for its fruitcakes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s always opportunities for undocumented labor,\u201d Santoyo said.<\/p>\n<p>Those opportunities are the very things on which the Martinez brothers pinned their hopes for a better future when they left their home in Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Sitting at their kitchen table beneath a painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe flanked on either side by the American and Mexican flags, the Martinez brothers recounted their perilous journey from Cuernavaca, Mexico, to Central Texas \u2014 a trek in which they endured the bitter cold of desert nights while dodging venomous snakes and malevolent strangers who prey on the multitudes of migrants headed to the United States in search of economic opportunity, safety or both.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can end up dead in the desert, and you\u2019re walking with nothing more than God\u2019s blessing,\u201d said Israel, 34, speaking in Spanish. \u201cWe had to pay around $1,500 each to cross the river and bring us here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That river is the Rio Grande, which they crossed illegally to reach U.S. soil, and here is Austin, Texas, where the brothers, along with their father, have lived and worked since they arrived in 2004.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reason we came over here was because there\u2019s almost no jobs available from where we\u2019re from,\u201d said Israel\u2019s brother Jos\u00e9, 38, who also spoke in Spanish. \u201cAnd sometimes, if I do work, I still have to borrow more money to finish the week and eat. I then need to work extra time to pay for the money I borrowed, and then you get yourself stuck with debts, debts, debts. You cannot get out from there, so you need to find other alternatives. Here, sometimes employers don\u2019t pay you and it\u2019s hard, but it\u2019s better than being in Mexico without a job and having debts.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_251184\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-251184\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/MasonryBros-771x514.jpg\" alt=\"Israel and Jos\u00e9 Martinez\" width=\"771\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/MasonryBros-771x514.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/MasonryBros-336x224.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/MasonryBros-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/MasonryBros-1170x780.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/MasonryBros.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Miguel Alvarez \/ The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brothers Israel and Jos\u00e9 Martinez \u2014 pseudonyms, since they asked their real names not be published \u2014 have found plenty of work in the ongoing building boom of Central Texas, but they say they&#8217;ve repeatedly been cheated out of their pay.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States, an estimated 8 million <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pewhispanic.org\/2016\/11\/03\/size-of-u-s-unauthorized-immigrant-workforce-stable-after-the-great-recession\/\" target=\"_blank\">were working or looking for work<\/a> as of 2014, according to a recent analysis by the Pew Research Center. In Texas, 1.1 million unauthorized immigrant workers made up 8.5 percent of the state\u2019s total labor force, concentrated in industries like agriculture, hospitality and especially construction, where an estimated 25 percent of workers were unauthorized. Researchers at the Workers Defense Project and the University of Texas at Austin put that number even higher, finding that half of surveyed construction workers in Texas <a href=\"http:\/\/www.workersdefense.org\/IMMIGRATION%20wdp%20color%20FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">said they were undocumented.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s no surprise, then, that construction sites are where the Martinez brothers have spent most of their waking hours for the past 12 years.\u00a0\u201cYou can find jobs quicker in construction over here because that\u2019s the industry where they let [undocumented immigrants] work the most,\u201d Jos\u00e9 said. His brother added, \u201cWhen you already know how to do construction, it is easy to find jobs anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But first they have to get past the laws that forbid their being hired. For many undocumented immigrants, that path forward is through fraudulent documents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe workers present false documents of the kind that the law requires the employer to inspect,\u201d said Bill Beardall, executive director of the Equal Justice Center, a nonprofit law firm that represents low-wage workers, many of whom are undocumented, in employment rights disputes. \u201cNow, the employers know this. The workers know this. The prohibition on hiring undocumented workers has stimulated the growth of that whole industry in creating false documents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not always an easy decision to use fake documents, but for many, it\u2019s the only path they see to earning a living.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had to work,\u201d said Isabella, 33, who arrived in the United States when she was just five and says she got her first job at a Dallas Jack in the Box at age 16 to help her parents make ends meet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just did whatever everyone else in my situation did,\u201d she said. \u201cThere was a place in the Oak Cliff area that was well known to duplicate Social Security cards, and that\u2019s how [I got the job]. I just invented a number, a random number, and I used my school ID.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She didn\u2019t want to lie \u2014 and break the law \u2014 to help her family, but, she said, \u201cthat was the only way I knew I could work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Isabella asked that her real name not be published for fear that public knowledge of her immigration status would affect her business as a real estate agent for a large Dallas-area firm, a position she can legally hold as a result of President Barack Obama\u2019s 2012 executive order granting relief from deportation to young undocumented immigrants.<\/p>\n<p>Fake documents are not cheap, especially for folks subsisting on substandard wages. They can cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to nearly $1,000. But some undocumented immigrants pay a much steeper price for using fake papers.<\/p>\n<p>Gerardo Vera was convicted of fraud after using someone else\u2019s Social Security number to get a job at a New York restaurant. He served two years in U.S. prison and was deported to Mexico, but not before paying $5,000 for an attorney to fight the deportation order so he could instead be granted \u201cvoluntary\u201d removal \u2014 an outcome that would allow him to eventually return to the United States. He did not prevail, despite his pleas to the judge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told her I don\u2019t have anyone here,\u201d Vera said when interviewed in Matamoros, Mexico, after his deportation. \u201cMy entire family is over there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said he didn\u2019t know if he\u2019d be able to rejoin his wife and children, as he would face even more prison time if caught trying again to illegally enter the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Those who can\u2019t get fake documents or who fear the legal repercussions of doing so are often hired completely off the books.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s how Jos\u00e9 Luis Zelaya, 29, got most of his work growing up in Houston.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t like I went to places and applied for jobs because I was always very afraid of using certain types of documentation because there was a fear that [immigration enforcement] would go after me or my mom,\u201d said Zelaya, who fled poverty and violence in his home country of Honduras when he was 13.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, he found informal work at a Mexican restaurant, earning $30 a day to work the door and run the register. He then moved on to mowing lawns, where his pay inched up to $40 a day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a humble job,\u201d Zelaya said. \u201cI was very proud of what I was doing, and I still am.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Undocumented immigrants also find work as independent contractors \u2014 a common tactic in construction but by no means unique to that industry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe employer does not have an obligation to check the work authorization of someone that they engage as an independent contractor,\u201d Beardall explained.<\/p>\n<p>Hiring undocumented workers as independent contractors, or misclassifying them as contractors, he said, \u201cnot only enables you to evade overtime laws and minimum wage laws and workers comp but also holds at arm\u2019s length any knowledge you\u2019re supposed to check into about their immigration status.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Complex subcontracting arrangements \u2014 in which the primary company on a project contracts work out to a second company, which then subcontracts to a third, and so on down to the individual workers \u2014 are a central practice of the construction industry. Subcontracting provides a way for general contractors to hire specialists in specific trades, like carpenters or electricians. But such arrangements also allow the companies at the top of the chain to circumvent responsibility for using undocumented labor or abuses that may occur further down, such as wage theft.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConstruction workers, especially those who are immigrants and especially those who are undocumented immigrants, are very vulnerable to not getting paid at all for their work after they&#8217;ve worked on a job,\u201d Beardall said.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a scenario the Martinez brothers know all too well.<\/p>\n<p>In 2009, when they were working on the retirement community\u2019s health center, the subcontractor who hired them stiffed them for what Israel said was $2,400 worth of work. They found out the subcontractor had already been paid but was holding out on them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s the boss, the supervisor, the contractor and the worker,\u201d Israel said. \u201cWhat he thought he could do was just to not pay us and keep the money the supervisor gave him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Equal Justice Center took up the brothers\u2019 case and filed a mechanic\u2019s lien, a procedural device that can bring a halt to work at a site until a dispute can be resolved. They recovered what they were owed.<\/p>\n<p>A similar thing happened the following year when the brothers and dozens of other workers were renovating and adding stone to the exterior of a large apartment complex in North Austin. For weeks, their supervisor promised to pay them but never delivered. When the workers threatened to stop working, the supervisor threatened to call the police.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe told him that he could do as he pleased but that he had to pay,\u201d Israel said.<\/p>\n<p>Through the help of their lawyer, and another mechanic\u2019s lien, the brothers and 44 other workers recovered their wages.<\/p>\n<p>In a sense, Israel and Jos\u00e9 have been lucky, despite frequently running into dishonest bosses intent on cheating them out of their pay. They continue to find work, and when they feel they\u2019re being exploited, they move on to another job.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wake up early, we go to work, we work hard, and we come home to our families to make sure they have food and a roof over their heads,\u201d Israel said. \u201cWe don\u2019t come here to steal or take away jobs from anyone or kidnap people. We just want an opportunity to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some slightly more fortunate undocumented immigrants find the means to cobble together enough money to start their own businesses. After working years as a restaurant busser and server, sometimes for as little as $30 for 12-hour days, Jos\u00e9 Sic opened his own business.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a soccer field, where families can come and have fun, come and play,\u201d said Sic, 39, who hasn\u2019t returned to his native Guatemala since he left in 1996.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_251185\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-251185\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/JoseSic-771x514.jpg\" alt=\"Jos\u00e9 Sic\" width=\"771\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/JoseSic-771x514.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/JoseSic-336x224.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/JoseSic-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/JoseSic-1170x780.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/JoseSic.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Gabriel C. P\u00e9rez \/ The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jos\u00e9 Sic at his soccer field in Houston.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Though it\u2019s illegal to employ undocumented immigrants like Sic, there\u2019s nothing specifically barring him from operating a business. He rents the land for his soccer field and charges customers a small entrance fee.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy goal is to buy the land,\u201d he said. \u201c[I\u2019m] planning to make this better, bigger. I have a dream. I don&#8217;t know, but for me this is just the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an uplifting sentiment, one shared by many undocumented immigrants striving to carve out their own niches in the American dream. But there\u2019s a counterweight, a bitter truth that runs through the minds of all who entered this country illegally: The fear that at any moment they could be forcibly uprooted and sent back to the countries from where they came.<\/p>\n<p>For Isabella, that fear didn\u2019t come so much from working illegally. \u201cI think I had more fear about driving without a license,\u201d she said, remembering a time when she narrowly avoided arrest after getting pulled over on her way to work.<\/p>\n<p>It was experiences like that \u2014 the day-in, day-out of being undocumented \u2014 that took an emotional toll on Isabella.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt made me an introverted person,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m naturally shy. It kind of made me [feel embarrassed a lot of times for no reason], and I guess that was the root of it. And sometimes it would make me feel insecure with myself, that a lot of the things that I wanted were impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a way, though, it made her stronger, she said. \u201cIt also helped me to be a fighter. I fought to have an education here in the state of Texas. I fought to be able to have a voice in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the prospect that President-elect Donald Trump will follow through on some of his campaign promises means Isabella, and others who benefited from Obama\u2019s relief from deportation, may be relegated once again to the shadows.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has promised to repeal the executive action, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, within his first 100 days in office.<\/p>\n<p>DACA recipient Jos\u00e9 Manuel Santoyo hasn\u2019t been to his birth country of Mexico since he left in 2001. He is about to graduate from Southern Methodist University and intends to go into politics. But losing DACA would put that dream on hold.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe United States is my home,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is where I grew up, and this is where I want to be. This is where I want to build a career.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That anxiety for what the future holds permeates beyond these young immigrants throughout the entire undocumented community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll my life, what I earned is here,\u201d Jos\u00e9 Sic said. \u201cIf one day I&#8217;m going to be deported, I&#8217;m going to leave everything behind. I&#8217;m going to lose everything, but I [won\u2019t] let being scared or afraid [take] that away from my mind to do what I want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VpAznG8OENQ?rel=0\" width=\"771\" height=\"434\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Jay Root and Elena Mejia Lutz contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An underground labor market provides abundant employment opportunities for undocumented immigrants in the United States. But working in the shadows often means accepting low pay and exploitation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,3331,2260],"class_list":["post-251114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-bordering-on-insecurity","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}