by "A Californian"

Today's headlines:

Tens of thousands of migrant workers illegally flood into a small border community, brazenly and openly settling in. They work more cheaply than the native population, are willing to live twenty to an apartment and even do without many modern amenities. Overwhelmingly male, they pursue the women of the host community. Since most females do not reciprocate their attentions, rapes ensue. Then murders. The locals demand that the immivasion be halted. Authorities do nothing. The authorities want the cheap labor and the profits they generate for the wealthy few. The migrants refuse to take any steps towards assimilation, insisting on speaking their own language. Too many migrants arriving too fast cause a glut in the labor pool, even for the most menial of jobs. Thousands of migrants are unemployed and seek the benefits of the host country's social welfare system. Robberies and burglaries rise. Violent crimes rise. The youngest migrants form into small gangs. They import illegal drugs. More rapes. More murders. The locals snap. There is a riot. They are accused of racism and zenophobia. The press condemns the locals and calls for greater tolerance. Nothing is done. The immivasion continues, social polarity hardens, the quality of life worsens, the problems get bigger with every passing day. The locals feel like strangers in their own country.

Southern California ? No. Southern Spain. And the local racist zenophobes are not Americans, but Spaniards.

See New York Times, Page 1, Monday, May 8 "Migrant Fears Rend a Spanish Town".

May 8, 2000