In Encinitas : Appointee Faces Up to Migrants Problem

In Encinitas, they are an inescapable part of the landscape.

Up and down city streets and around shopping centers, clusters of migrant workers hunker down each day of the week, waiting for work. Young and old, they camp at night in the ravines and fields. It is a squalid existence amid the affluence of the seaside community.

The mere presence of these impoverished people is among the most divisive of issues in the city, pitting an angry faction that wants the workers removed against advocates of a more humanitarian approach. Despite marathon City Council meetings and the appointment of a special task force, only modest headway has been made to ease the tension.

One-of-a-Kind Post for County

Into that fray steps Gloria Carranza, a 42-year-old mother of two recently appointed as the city’s transient-issues coordinator. As the first occupant of the newly created, $36,600-a-year post, which is the only municipal job of its kind in San Diego County, Carranza will be responsible for dealing directly with the myriad issues of the migrants.

It will not be an easy task. The immigrant problems in Encinitas are many and vexing. Moreover, the arena in which Carranza will perform promises to be well scrutinized and politicized, requiring the artistry of an acrobat to balance the competing interests.

A short woman with a ready smile, Carranza hopes to do just that, cracking down on problems that have plagued residents near the immigrant enclaves and other hot spots while at the same time easing the plight of documented migrant workers.

“I can sympathize with both points of view,” said Carranza, who began work Dec. 1. “I consider myself a humanitarian person, but I demand respect for the laws of the country.

“If we all get together and say we have to do something, that we can’t bury our heads in the sand, then I think we’ve made the first step.”

She Knows Both Sides of Fence

Carranza is no stranger to either side of the fence, be it helping migrants to a better life or handling the complaints of residents.

Along with her mother, Carranza has performed extensive community work in the fields, signing up migrant workers for the federal amnesty program. But she has also served on a special immigration task force in Carlsbad, where she lives, and another study group formed by Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad).

A state-certified interpreter and translator, Carranza is also a member of the San Diego County Human Relations Commission and the advisory board of the county’s Department of Transborder Affairs.

Her mother’s parents immigrated from Mexico. Carranza was born in Los Angeles and reared in Oceanside, where she served as student body president at Oceanside-Carlsbad Junior College. She later moved to Mexico City for a summer’s visit. When she met her future husband, Luis, one summer “suddenly became 18 summers,” Carranza said.

The family returned to the United States to live in 1982 when Luis was offered an accounting job at a San Diego firm. While raising her sons, who now attend USC, Carranza became involved in community work and, eventually, became involved in aiding undocumented aliens.

Although she has been on the new job little more than a week, the political steam has already started to rise. It is not surprising. The post was one of the few surviving ideas from a discordant, 1 1/2-year study by a special task force that repeatedly drew fire from a council majority eager to find solutions to the complaints of homeowners.

Councilwoman Marjorie Gaines, a staunch advocate of a tough approach to the issue, suggests that Carranza does not “fit the profile” for the job because she was aligned in the past with advocates of aid to illegal aliens.

“One of the things that was emphasized by the council was that the person should not have a bias,” Gaines said. “Our intent was to take care of our people who are legally residents here. When people come here and choose to camp in the bushes, it’s not the city’s obligation to put them in housing. We’re not a welfare agency.”

Those more sympathetic to the migrant workers’ plight insist that Carranza will be a success.

“I think she has a very good understanding of the problems of our people, of the Hispanic people,” said the Rev. Rafael Martinez, director of North County Chaplaincy, a program that provides aid to migrant workers in North County. “I also think she has a good understanding of the community at large, of those people who don’t have as much sympathy for migrants.”

Martinez said Carranza may very well find herself in the political spotlight on occasion, but suggested the woman “has the strength of character so that she can stand up to the pressure.”

Looking for Solutions

Carranza, meanwhile, argues that it is possible to please both sides, that the solutions to problems are not mutually exclusive.

One of the key troubles, she notes, is the alien camps nestled amid the hillsides. These cantones are not only inhumane, but also a source of headaches for residents of nearby housing tracts and mobile home parks. Eliminating the camps by providing better housing for documented migrant workers can serve as a balm for both problems, Carranza said.

She looks forward to enacting one of the council’s prime directives: a hiring center for documented workers. Although a center has not yet been funded, the idea has unanimous backing and is expected to get money from the council. By providing a single source for employers in search of labor, the long lines of migrants strewn along busy city streets could become a fixture of the past.

Carranza, who was appointed by City Manager Warren Shafer and reports to him, notes that her chief role will undoubtably be as a clearing house for information and a trouble shooter for residents’ complaints. Moreover, she expects to help coordinate the departments that deal with the migrant issue, among them the fire and sheriff’s departments, the health department and public works.

Her efforts will be widely monitored. Other communities in North County are troubled by the clash of cultures between migrant workers and suburban homeowners. If Carranza’s efforts pay off in Encinitas, other cities may decide to follow suit.

All in all, she hopes to make a difference.

“I feel that tugging, that feeling that I can change something,” Carranza said. “I’m not going to say I can change the whole situation, but I want to make an impact. I just feel, if I can do a little bit, I’ll be happy.”