Encinitas Presses for Solutions to Housing Migrants

Prodded by debate over an immigrant camp that sprang up near an abandoned landfill, the Encinitas City Council agreed Monday to pursue a wide array of potential solutions, among them asking to relocate the immigrants to federal land such as Camp Pendleton.

In a series of votes, the council also moved to seek out state and federal funds for migrant housing, as well as help from private groups.

The council also agreed to consider pushing toward reestablishment of a camp at Valle Verde, whose recent county-ordered destruction led to the controversy surrounding the new camp. Such a camp might consist of trailers for the migrants.

Easing of Strict Policy

The council also voted to investigate whether the San Diego County Department of Health Services could ease its strict policy of razing the camps because of health and safety concerns.

The vote followed a hearing that included more than four hours of testimony and debate by a sharply divided crowd.

In a packed council chamber, some homeowners argued that the immigrants should simply be uprooted, while other residents stressed that housing solutions must be offered first.

“I am not a racist. I am a law-abiding citizen. I expect others to behave as law-abiding citizens,” said Hy Fradin, a homeowner who lives near the encampment. “These migrants living in the canyon below our property are doing so in violation of the law.”

Some Urge More Humane Approach

Others urged a more humane approach.

“The crisis didn’t start 2 1/2 weeks ago, the crisis started about five years ago,” said Ozzie Venzor, leader of Friends of Immigrant Workers, a private support group. “It’s inhumane for law enforcement and the health department to throw these people out onto the street, where there’s no place to go.”

The Rev. Rafael Martinez, director of the North County Chaplaincy, urged the council to see both sides of the problem. “For some of the residents, the presence of these immigrants is an inconvenience, an annoyance,” Martinez said, “but to these people, it is survival.”

The encampment sprang up almost overnight after scores of immigrants were forced out of the sprawling Valle Verde camp on El Camino Real across from La Costa.

Valle Verde had existed in relative solitude for nearly a decade, with a population numbering more than 400 during the harvest season. Nonetheless, it was closed Feb. 1 by county health officials because of concerns about unsanitary conditions.

With few options for low-income housing along the affluent North County coast, the migrants spread to a chaparral-strewn canyon branching off from an abandoned county landfill on the city’s eastern flank. The immigrants immediately encountered resistance from residents of condominiums sprawled on the mesa top above the canyon.

Ready and Waiting for Onslaught

Indeed, many residents were ready and waiting for the onslaught. Even before Valle Verde was shut, homeowners began to hear that the canyon below their units had been targeted for settlement by the impoverished men and women from south of the border.

Angry residents inundated the city with letters and phone calls protesting the presence of the migrants, complaining that the squalid camp, made up mostly of crude lean-tos covered with plastic sheets, posed a health and fire threat.

The U. S. Border Patrol and San Diego County Sheriff’s Department responded by conducting a sweep of the new encampment about a week ago. The raid proved largely ineffective in uprooting the population, however. Although the undocumented aliens were shipped back across the border, most of the migrants showed amnesty papers and were simply escorted off the property. Many returned an hour later, after authorities had left.

Frustrated by the continued presence of the camp, an agitated band of residents--many of them elderly--descended on the council last Wednesday and demanded that firm steps be taken to move the migrants from the property.

Since then, city officials said they have been busy tracking down the identity of canyon landowners so efforts can be made to order the encampment removed.

Although the migrants could be cited by law enforcement officials for misdemeanor crimes such as illegal camping or fires, authorities contend that such action would be only a temporary cure. Most migrants would be back in their hooches before a deputy was done with his paper work, they say.

“The system is just not geared to deal with a problem like this,” Encinitas City Manager Warren Shafer said, noting that the overburdened court and law enforcement system is ill-equipped these days to handle a sudden influx of misdemeanor violations involving the migrants.

A far more permanent solution has been the practice of citing a landowner for violations of the health and safety code and ordering a remedy, which invariably leads to the hooches being uprooted. Just such a tactic was employed to shut down Valle Verde, but the process is time-consuming at best, authorities say.

Moreover, some authorities contend that alternative housing of some sort needs to be provided or the migrants will simply move on to the next canyon or hillside and set up a new encampment.

Reluctant to Pay Rent

But even that may have a catch, officials say. Some immigrants have lived in the bush for years, and are reluctant to spend money on rent when their wages could be used for food or sent south of the border to help struggling relatives.

As officials were gearing up for the meeting, homeowners near the fledgling migrant camp decided to take matters into their own hands over the weekend and get a close-up look at their new neighbors.

On Sunday, more than a dozen residents from the subdivision overlooking the canyon wandered down into the camp with a sheriff’s escort, breaking through brushy thickets to reach the shacks as bemused migrants looked on.

At one point, the phalanx of residents confronted a group of immigrants who were standing on a ridge watching the episode unfold. Diane Fradin, a leader of the expedition, charged up to the group and demanded an explanation.

“This is not law-abiding,” Fradin warned. “This is private property! Law enforcement can take them to jail.”

Efren Anguiano, a representative of Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside who was visiting the camp Sunday to offer help, told Fradin he agreed that the immigrants were breaking the law, but said the simple fact was that they couldn’t afford to go anywhere else.

Food and a Roof in Jail

“They’d probably be better off if they did get arrested,” Anguiano said. “At least in jail they’d have food and a solid roof overhead.”

Later, Fradin approached one of the migrant women, Guadalupe Mojica Elizondo. Fradin pointed down at her own white tennis shoe, which was smudged with the remnants of human excrement she had stepped in while wading through the bush.

“ Senora! Look!” Fradin cried.

Mojica, who speaks almost no English, simply looked on, her arms folded across her chest.

Once the residents were back in their neighborhood, Fradin voiced frustration over the situation, complaining that local, state and federal officials have failed to promote permanent solutions to the camp and others like it all across North County.

“Yes, it’s illegal, and beyond that it’s a fire hazard and a health hazard,” she said. “But I also feel like our government let them down. It gave them amnesty and then didn’t do anything to help by providing housing.”