Businessman: Immigrants
a fact of life in work force
Partnership director says people will not be deported from U.S.
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD — Representatives of the farming and restaurant sectors of the local economy say immigrants are needed to work in the United States.
While it is acknowledged that issues of crowded housing conditions, strained municipal services and increasing school enrollments are frustrating long-time residents, Hal Rifkin, a Manalapan farmer, and Rob Cash, the owner-operator of the Metropolitan Cafe in downtown Freehold, say the people who have come to America are a necessary part of the community.
Rifkin told members of the Borough Council recently that 95 percent of all the produce harvested in the United States is done by Hispanic workers.
"We can grow the crops ourselves," Rifkin said, "but we cannot harvest them ourselves. None of us can."
Cash accompanied Jayne Carr, the executive director of the Freehold Center Partnership, which oversees activities in the borough’s downtown area, to a Human Relations Committee meeting on Dec. 29.
He said, restaurants in the downtown area would "absolutely fail" without the labor supplied by immigrants. He predicted that landscaping businesses would also suffer without the labor supplied by immigrants, many of whom entered the United States illegally.
Carr and Cash gave their thoughts and input on how the business community can deal with the issues that the influx of immigrants to Freehold have brought with them.
"The partnership has been discussing the issue of day laborers for several years," Carr said. "We have tried repeatedly to find a liaison to help bring the workers to become an active part of the community."
Carr said that years ago the workers could be seen standing in front of stores in town, too afraid to venture into them alone. She said that as a representative of the partnership she had tried to reach out to Hispanic business owners in town, but without success because of the language barrier.
She said she expects to be much more successful in her attempts to reach Hispanic business owners and residents now because of her recent contact with Cecilia Reynolds, the publisher of the local Spanish language newspaper Nosotros.
Carr said Reynolds, who was appointed to the board of the partnership in December, will act as the liaison to the community and that pleases Carr and the partnership.
"We found Cecilia Reynolds and have brought her on board with the partnership," Carr said, adding that members of the Latino community trust her. "The only way to deal with this issue is in a non-adversarial way. We cannot let our emotions enter into it."
Carr said she met with representatives of the federal Department of Homeland Security, which has jurisdiction over immigration issues, last year. She said that based on her conversations with the federal officials, illegal aliens "are not being deported because they are not a threat to the homeland security. These people are here to stay."
Carr told members of the Human Relations Committee that she asked the federal representatives why they kept laws on the books that they could not or would not enforce. The response she received was, "because if an individual ever becomes a threat to homeland security, the laws are in place."
"I think people have to see past the issue of legality," Carr said. "We cannot send them back. Let the leaders sit back and figure out a solution to that issue.
"If we were living in the same conditions as they were, we would do the same thing. We hired them, we’ve created the situation, the United States created the situation. Now we are dependent on these workers. I don’t hold the population responsible. We need to find a way to humanely fix it now. I think Freehold and other towns have created these problems. If there was no demand for them, there would be no work. That’s hypocrisy," Carr said.
Cash said the immigrants he employs are not the men who seek work on a daily basis in the borough. He said his employees have places to live and children in the school system.
He said he did not have much time to prepare for the meeting, but brought several ideas with him to the table.
"Hispanic workers traditionally have a fear of police, of the [immigration service], of government here because they’re afraid they will have to show identification," Cash explained. "If there were some way to make them feel more comfortable by issuing some sort of work permit, I think that would help the situation."
Cash admitted to using the muster zone (the area where day laborers were hired) once in a pinch.
"I have to admit it was a little scary seeing so many people running up and climbing onto my car when I stopped it. I can see how it has gotten out of control," he said.
Rabbi Kenneth Greene of the Freehold Jewish Center, who is a member of the committee, asked Carr and Cash if members of the business community would be willing to "put some hard dollars in to help ameliorate thesituation."
Carr responded by saying that business owners were continually adding money to the downtown area and that "it would make sense for the places they operate. I’d think they’d probably say yes."
She also referred to a tax identification form.
"It affords some protection for the employer, but offers no protection for the worker. But the ability to get the money is there," she said.
Cash added, "If some measure of protection were offered, I think that both the business community and the workers would pay something."
Committee member Marc Le Vine said, "As Americans, we can’t trust ourselves. Our own people, the contractors and the landscapers, are the biggest offenders here. Why pay more than $8 an hour if they don’t have to?
"It won’t be long before [the Board of Education] will be coming to us telling us they need more trailers. We need to stem the tide of more people coming. It’s never been just about the muster zone. It’s about the fallout that affects the quality of life issues in the town. The next step is crackdown by default."
During the public portion of the meeting, committee chair the Rev. Dr. Andre McGuire allowed questions and statements from the audience.
Rita Morena, director of the Open Door food pantry in the borough, told the committee she sees all the human pain and suffering.
"We see children with no coats, no food, day in and day out. Remember these are children who are suffering who had nothing to do with why they are here," Morena said. "Remember the human toll that is taking place here. If the muster zone is a political or social issue, then work it out. But we can’t forget the children who were born here. They are suffering for the fact that their parents can’t get a job."
Morena asked the committee members to "please try and come together as a group to ease the situation."