Ways in Which the Green Valley Developed Into a Community Essay

Introduction

The documented as well as undocumented immigrants coming to seek job opportunities in the United States of America, especially from Mexico and neighboring countries such as El Salvador settled in the Green Valley and provided an impetus for its growth into a community (Chavez 115). The area offered low incomes workers with affordable housing and proximity to their potential American employers. They lived in campsites, some with their families and others alone.

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The primary objective of these immigrants who resided in the Green Valley was to take the hard labor which the Americans could not do and earn money for themselves (Chavez 116). Some of the jobs that the male immigrant workers got include gardening, clearing construction sites, digging trenches, nursery management and other forms of manual labor. The women were employed as housecleaners, maids and doing domestic chores. Despite the problematic nature of the work, these people remained industrious. In fact, Chavez (2012) refers to them as being typical examples of homo economicus. The availability of different job offerings by the Americans, especially those that did not require socialization or training was a major attraction for immigrants to the Green Valley. Nonetheless, the undocumented immigrants seeking a job and living in the Green Valley were often harassed and mistreated by the United States authorities.

External Fears That Led to Closing of the Green Valley

The ever-increasing presence of undocumented immigrants seeking jobs in the United States but residing in the Green valley posed a threat to its national security. Probably, there was a fear of immigrants colonizing the area and eventually gaining dominance in the United States (Chavez 133). It is likely that the American agencies feared that the population of Mexicans and other immigrant races in the Green Valley would increase so much that it would be difficult for them to control them.

The threat of immigrants that led to the dismantling of the Green Valley is manifest in the actions of the property owners in the area who instead of improving the sanitation and building to meet the prescribed code decided to demolish them (Chavez 126). Furthermore, there was a culture and class difference between the low-income earners in the Green Valley campsites that triggered a superiority conflict in which the Americans did not want to share neighborhoods with the poor immigrants.

The Concept of "Fictive Kin" in Migrant Worker Communities

Immigrants such as those that resided in the Green Valley faced similar circumstances and challenges such as the need to always seek hard labor from the American neighborhoods, escaping from the government agencies for those that did not have required documents and staying in cheap houses and camps. Furthermore, they would interact closely in hotels and other social places where they worked for minimum wage. Based on this socio-cultural and economic interactions, the immigrants develop some form of attachment in what befits the definition of fictive kinship.

Fictive kinship relationships among immigrants develop over an extended period of interaction within the same Geographical region. The immigrants not only occupy the same low-income neighborhoods but also have frequent contact, and support networks. Through such interactions, they tend to have a densely connected social network with mutual obligations and responsibilities making it a source of social capital

How Undocumented Workers Use the Various Social Organizations

The undocumented immigrants are often subject to mistreatment by host administration as was the case of the Green Valley residents. Nonetheless, through their organizations such as the North County coalition, the immigrants would gather and hold night vigils to demystify their problems not only as homeless people but also the target of mistreatment (Chavez 119). Despite the lack of government support and goodwill, the immigrants hold peaceful protests to decry the denial of basic human needs such as shelter. Through such initiatives, the estranged immigrants get the attention of social organizations such as the church that intervene to address their plight.

Using social organization, the immigrants in the Green valley held a candlelight vigil which attracted the help of Reverend Martinez who gave the threat of evicting them from the area an inhuman outlook (Chavez 123). Furthermore, the immigrant social organizations organize activities that the media cover broadly to expose the evil being -meted on them and to point to a need for immediate multifaceted assistance from activists and other human rights watch organizations.

Works Cited

Chavez, Leo R. Shadowed Lives, Undocumented immigrants in American society. Cengage Learning, 2012.