Boom and Bust
Two towns. Two companies. Two different ways of life. Their fates both hinge on immigration.
Fates of two towns, two companies hinge on immigration
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By Devona Walker
Published: October 31, 2007
GUYMON — On a recent weekday, at least five of this agricultural community's hotels were booked. Room rates ranged from $54 — for motor lodge-like accommodations — to $80 at the Comfort Inn.
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Tale of two cities
Guymon is booming. Just 18 miles northeast on U.S. 54 is Hooker, population 1,733. Its downtown, just three blocks long, is empty. Out-of-business signs cover the fronts of a dozen businesses.
In the high plains of the Panhandle, many rural agricultural communities like Hooker and Guymon struggle to reinvent themselves. In some cases, immigrant workers and the industries that employ them have been the difference between boom and bust.
Here, immigration is not just about politics. It's about opportunity, economic development and change. It's about survival.
Hooker: Bust town
Hooker, like many rural Southwest communities, is aging. It's diminished a bit further with each funeral. Children grow up and move away, few return. Those who remain commute for work: Some off to Guymon to work at Seaboard, others to Liberal, Kan., to work at National Beef.
There, hopes of reversing the trend of dwindling population and commerce has hinged on immigration.
Plans dry up
Smithfield Foods had planned to open a meatpacking plant in Hooker. It would have brought revenue, about 3,500 employees just to work the plant, and up to as many as 10,000 new community residents.
A few months ago, however, Smithfield abruptly shelved those plans. Company officials stopped returning phone calls from Hooker city leaders about the same time its North Carolina meat plant was busted in a massive Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid.
Recently, a message appeared on the company Web site about indefinitely delaying construction in Hooker and blaming the delays on "worker shortages.”
Industry experts and Panhandle residents assume it is immigration worries that have Smithfield jumping ship.
"Here, we have an unemployment rate of less than 2 percent, so those workers had to come from somewhere,” Assistant Police Chief Raymond Holbert said. "They're just not here.”
Within the past few years, Hooker has watched several businesses close their doors, including the lumber yard, a few insurance companies, a construction firm and a furniture store.
Commuting for everything
"Some went away, and some just died,” said Hooker City Clerk Linda Holbert, who is married to Raymond Holbert. "We've been trying really hard to bring in business.”
These days, residents find themselves commuting for just about everything other than groceries and religion. Hooker is still home to one grocery store and three churches.
During the time that Smithfield was courting the town, however, the phone at City Hall was ringing off the hook. There were inquiries from national chain restaurants and retailers, all looking to purchase or lease commercial space in Hooker.
When federal immigration officers raided that North Carolina plant, it all came to a screeching halt.
City leaders reluctantly are continuing to prepare for Smithfield's arrival, but many are now skeptical.
Guymon: Boomtown
Much of Guymon's growth and industry has been fueled by a largely immigrant work force, residents said. Thousands migrated to the area to work at Seaboard. Dozens of businesses opened to serve them, as well as Seaboard's growing management team.
For a time, Guymon was fiercely divided on the subject of Seaboard. There were ranchers in the outlying areas who were apprehensive, knowing the huge plant would consume much of the area's precious water resources. There were homesteaders who balked at the stench. And there was a vocal minority who resented the scores of immigrants that came with the plant.
At Eddie's Steakhouse in Guymon, a steady flow of dinner customers filed through the door. Among them were a party of Scots, some Australians and a table of Japanese men in town to do business with Seaboard.
"More money is coming in. It's been good on tips,” said Janna Horner, 25, who works as a bartender. "If they weren't here, this would be a little ghost town. It's good for us. The more tips, the better.”
Billy Scarborough, 31, runs the Hide Out, a local bar. Its customers are primarily college students from nearby Oklahoma Panhandle State University. He also gets a fair number of "cowboys,” hunters who gravitate to the area during deer season.
He has lived in Guymon his whole life. He has watched it grow. He's also felt some of its growing pains.
He also says there's been a slight increase in crime, specifically vandalism and gang activity. Last year, there was even a drive-by shooting.
"That's something we never had around here before. But personally, I think, you've gotta take the bad with the good,” Scarborough said. "Anytime a town grows, it's good for everybody.It brings in tax revenue. Property values double. It brings money into the town.”
As the population grew from about 7,000 to 10,000 people, the increase in crime was expected, he said. At the bar, there has been trouble, but usually not with immigrants.
"The thing I like about this place is that we are able to bring all these races together without there being trouble. We play rap, Mexican music, rock and country,” Scarborough said.
"To tell you the truth, the only ones we ever have problems with are the cowboys.”
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January 4, 2007 (Washington, DC) – After numerous refusals over three and a half years, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has released the first known public copy of the U.S.-Mexico Social Security Totalization Agreement. The government made the disclosure in response to lawsuits filed under the Freedom of Information Act by TREA Senior Citizens League, a 1.2 million member nonpartisan seniors advocacy group.
The Totalization Agreement could allow millions of illegal Mexican workers to draw billions of dollars from the U.S. Social Security Trust Fund.
A loophole in current Social Security law could allow millions of today's Mexican workers to eventually collect billions of dollars worth of Social Security benefits for earnings under fraudulent or "non-work authorized" Social Security numbers, putting huge new pressures on the Social Security Trust Fund.
If an illegal worker working in the United States today gets a "work authorized" Social Security number through guest worker immigration legislation, the Totalization Agreement, or perhaps just over time, that worker could eventually apply for Social Security benefits once he or she has met eligibility requirements.
In addition, that worker could be able to claim credits for work performed while in the U.S. illegally. The SSA maintains an "earnings suspense file," which tracks wages that cannot be posted to individual workers' records because there is no match for a name and Social Security number. Once an immigrant gains access to a work authorized Social Security number – whether a legal citizen or not – wages earned while in the U.S. unlawfully could be reinstated to the worker's new Social Security account.
The Congressional Research Service reports the earnings suspense file currently stands at approximately $520 billion. According to the congressional testimony of SSA Inspector General Patrick P. O'Carroll in February 2006, "We believe the chief cause of wage items being posted to the earnings suspense file instead of an individual's earning record is unauthorized work by non citizens."
Section 8 USC 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv)(b)(iii)
"Any person who . . . encourages or induces an alien to . . . reside . . . knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such . . . residence is . . . in violation of law, shall be punished as provided . . . for each alien in respect to whom such a violation occurs . . . fined under title 18 . . . imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both."
Section 274 felonies under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, INA 274A(a)(1)(A):
A person (including a group of persons, business, organization, or local government) commits a federal felony when she or he:
* assists an alien s/he should reasonably know is illegally in the U.S. or who lacks employment authorization, by transporting, sheltering, or assisting him or her to obtain employment, or
* encourages that alien to remain in the U.S. by referring him or her to an employer or by acting as employer or agent for an employer in any way, or
* knowingly assists illegal aliens due to personal convictions.
http://www.gorena.org/OK-HB1804.htm This is a link to the actual bill. It's a good thing. We need this to stay a law and it needs to be enforced!