Community torn apart by SC immigration raid
MITCH WEISS and JEFFREY COLLINS
10/9/2008
Associated Press
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — When Magdalana Domingo Ramirez Lopez moved to this South Carolina city nearly two years ago to work at the chicken processing plant, she felt at home.
On weekends, the neighborhood near House of Raeford's plant was filled with the sounds of salsa music and the scents of Guatemalan cooking. She would shop with her three young sons at nearby businesses that catered to the immigrants — some in the country legally, others not.
While the sights and sounds reminded Lopez of her native Guatemala, she said she was happy living in the United States — a place that offered a better life for her family.
But those hopes were shattered Tuesday when federal agents swooped into the plant, arresting 330 suspected illegal immigrants, six of them juveniles, effectively shutting down the factory and tearing apart the close-knit community.
Lopez was arrested and could be deported, as her husband was two years ago.
"My whole life has changed," she said as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I don't want to go back. My sons are better off here. The country is so poor. There's nothing there."
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jO9WZoMijd4RZonKDKU4OabjtjkgD93MN79O4
