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Have you ever asked him about them?
He doesn t discuss his past with me.
All right, I said with a shrug, tell me what you
know.
Before I moved to San Antonio and met Kyle, I
taught school not far from here, in Mountain View,
for a couple of years. It was a nice little town until
ABP moved in.
ABP?
American Beef and Pork. They bought the old
meatpacking plant in Mountain View and expanded
it. Almost as soon as they bought the plant, ABP
started bringing in workers from someplace else and
laying off the local workers who were in the union.
The new workers are earning half what the union
workers were.
I looked at her and shrugged again.
Anyway, she continued, the whole town
changed almost overnight. Most of the workers hired
by ABP were Hispanic and spoke virtually no English.
In fact, the Hispanic population of Mountain View
grew by nearly four hundred percent in the time I was
there. Hispanic children flooded the schools, and the
school district couldn t afford to fund a bigger
bilingual program. They asked ABP for more tax
money, but the company only made a one-time
payment and refused to pay more.
Is that why you left?
The workload became intolerable. I was the only
Hispanic teacher in the school. Over time, in addition
to my teaching duties, I was spending more and more
time acting as a translator for administration as well
as other teachers. It wasn t the money, and I don t
mind hard work, but the town was becoming unsafe.
There were a lot of assaults and burglaries. So
eventually I decided to apply to one of the San
Antonio school districts.
Do you think these new employees are illegals?
They had to be, but most of the ones I spoke to
about their children were eager to show me their
papers. If they were fakes, there s no way I would
have known.
Did anyone report any of this to INS?
Of course, but when they finally came, they
didn t find more than two or three illegals. Another
teacher told me she had heard that most of the ABP
employees didn t go to work that day. They may have
been warned.
Did the children stay in school all year?
No, there was a very large turnover of students.
Do you know who does the hiring for ABP?
I think they use employment agencies. At least
that s what I heard.
I d bet twenty bucks all the employment agencies
are located in Eagle Pass or Del Rio with convenient
branch offices in San Antonio. I smiled.
I don t know anything about that.
And this is what you told Kyle?
Yes.
So where s the story? Just illegals is nothing,
Sarita.
They be buyin them employees, Lena jumped
in.
I hadn t noticed her standing at the door until she
spoke.
Eavesdropping again, Lena? I asked with a
smile.
Some of my people worked for ABP two, three
years ago. They the ones what got laid off to make
room for them fuckin illegals.
If they ve got papers, guess what, ladies, they re
not illegals, I said.
Shit, Jo, they ain t got no real papers. I can buy
you papers today. How many you want?
And where would you get them?
San Antone. Cost you bout five hundred. There a
woman who buys Social Security numbers from real
people this side of the border. When you got that, you
good to go.
If these illegals are so damn poor, where are they
going to get five hundred dollars?
Need eight to get to Mountain View. Costs
another three for transportation. The company takes it
outta their pay off the top.
Hell, I can buy a bus ticket for eighty, I said.
Not unless you got papers. Don t get no papers
til San Antone.
So I m an illegal. I come across the border where
I pay some coyote three hundred to drive me to San
Antonio. Once I get there, I shell out another five for
fake papers that get me on with no questions asked at
ABP.
You got the whole enchilada right there, Lena
said with a smile.
I wonder how many illegals make it to Mountain
View through this pipeline, I said to myself.
A bunch, Lena said. Maybe fifty a month.
Maybe more.
They need that many workers?
The old plant only open five days a week with
two shifts. ABP open six days a week, three shifts.
Dangerous work so lots of em only last a coupla
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