Julie El Nuevo Jerome

Sunday, November 8, 2015 • A9

T

he new face of Jerome is perhaps nowhere more evident than in the city’s Stoney Ridge subdivision, where many of the freshly built houses are occupied

by Jerome’s first-generation immigrants.

Along 21st and 22nd Avenues East, between Tiger Drive and Fillmore Street in northeast Jerome, most — but not all — of the residents are Hispanic.

When men work on a Ford in someone’s driveway or children play in front yard pools, they’re likely to speak Spanish.

You’ll meet the people of Stoney Ridge in four special stories this year. If you missed the first two installments on Aug. 30 and Oct. 4, catch up at Magicvalley.com/jerome.

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS PHOTOS

MATTHEW GOOCH, TIMES-NEWS

Driver Ricardo Rivas, a resident of Jerome’s Stoney Ridge subdivision, talks to his supervisor before heading to a nearby dairy Oct. 27 at Glanbia’s dairy processing plant in Gooding. Rivas drives for 12-hour shifts around the Magic Valley.

Language, Legal Status Keep Immigrants in Demanding Jobs opened would be more family time,” Eudabe said.

That’s a typical sentiment in Stoney Ridge.

JULIE WOOTTON jwootton@magicvalley.com

JEROME • Sergio Garcia leaves for his dairy job long before the sun comes up.

The undocumented immigrant living in Jerome’s Stoney Ridge subdivision has been a loader at a dairy near Shoshone more than 20 years. He works 12-hour shifts, starting at 5 a.m., six days a week.

S t i l l , G a rc i a s t r u g g l e s to pay the mortgage on his 1,408-square-foot home and sees no opportunity for higher pay or more family time. His future looks like his past: the dairy loading job.

“He’s been there his whole adult life,” his wife, Guadalupe Eudabe, said through an interpreter in late September.

Language barriers and legal status keep many of Stoney Ridge’s immigrants in dairy and agricultural jobs, where some employers are willing to hire undocumented workers. But long



Jerome driver Ricardo Rivas does the pre-check on his Glanbia truck before heading to a dairy. hours and low pay take a toll on family life.

Many residents in the neighborhood — along 21st and 22nd Avenues East — have young children and one-income households. That’s not unusual in Jerome, where a third of the city’s population is younger than

18 thanks to an influx of young Hispanic families.

Eudabe hardly sees her husband. If he had the chance to work at a different job, she said, his hours would improve. They’d go fishing as a family more often, a teen son said.

“The doors that would be

Around this neighborhood, you won’t meet many people working office hours.

Potato handler Jesus Ceballos was in his garage on 21st Avenue East with the overhead door open on a late-September afternoon. Ceballos — who’s originally from Michoacan, Mexico, but said he’s a U.S. citizen — moved to Jerome about seven years ago after living in Washington and Glenns Ferry.

He lives with his wife and his youngest son and works overnight shifts at Rite Stuff Foods in Jerome.

“We work too much, but they don’t pay much,” Ceballos said through an interpreter.

He didn’t want to name his wage. But in south-central Idaho, Please see IMMIGRANTS, A10

Irish or Mexican, Immigrants Cluster with People from Same Towns Nathan Brown Reporter

A

couple of years ago, I started to research my great-grandmother’s family. She never told my grandmother much, so I didn’t have much to go on other than that they were probably Scottish or ScotchIrish.

I traced her grandfather to Lisbon, N.Y., a tiny town across the St. Lawrence River from Canada that is named not after the Portuguese capital but after Lisburn, in Northern Ireland, where some of the early settlers were from. A while later, I found my great-great-greatgrandfather’s marriage certificate. He was from right outside Lisburn. Maybe he knew about Lisbon because other people from his town had moved there already. That explains why he might settle in a place in the middle of nowhere where your mustache freezes if you breathe on it.

I’d never thought about it before, but it makes perfect sense: Of course people move places where they already know someone, where they might have family who can give them a place to stay or help them get a job. Following that hunch, I

Neighbors Again This summer and fall, Times-News reporters interviewed many residents of Jerome’s Stoney Ridge subdivision, where Hispanics outnumber other neighbors. A trend emerged: Among those interviewed, all of the neighborhood’s first-generation Mexican immigrants came from a cluster of states along Mexico’s Pacific coast.

Jalisco

Marta Abalos

Michoacan

David Avila, Avelino Salinas, Faviola Jimenez, Jesus Cevallos

Colima

Josefina Cervantes, Guadalupe Eudabe

did a bit of Googling on another town where some of my father’s family had lived and quickly found a number of other families from the same area of County Down who settled there in the 1840s, too.

When colleague Julie Wootton and I started on the “El Nuevo Jerome” reporting project five months ago, I would ask the people we interviewed where in Mexico they were from.

I was curious if we would find a similar pattern, of people from the same area in their old country moving to the same place in their new one. As we talked to people in Jerome’s Stoney Ridge subdivision, we quickly noticed that many were from Guanajuato, Guadalajara, Michoacan and Colima — the cluster of states west and northwest of Mexico City.

Having lunch with Father

Rob Irwin of St. Jerome Catholic Church, I mentioned we had met a lot of people from Michoacan. Irwin said that’s because Michoacan is a rural area, similar to Idaho in some ways, where many work in agriculture. People from Mexico City, he said, are more likely to go to big cities, while people from places like Michoacan are more likely to move to Idaho or places like it.

Esteban Martinez, a First Federal loan officer whose parents are from Michoacan, told me many of the people he knows are from Michoacan, Guanajuato, Jalisco and Zacatecas.

Martinez’s college roommate at the University of Idaho, who was from Washington state, turned out to have roots in the same small Michoacan town as his own father.

Martinez attributed much of the emigration from those areas to poverty, to violence by drug cartels and to people simply seeking more opportunities than they have in Mexico. Some of the people I’ve talked to in Jerome said their parents or husband or brother came here first. Others just said they came for work.

The details change with every generation and situation, but the overarching reason remains the same for this country’s immigrants: a better life than they could have had in their home countries.

Meet Lawrentino Garcia

L

awrentino Garcia was still wearing his Glanbia work shirt while mowing his front yard one mid-August evening.

Garcia, from Mexico, has lived in Jerome for seven years and shares his 22nd Avenue East home in Stoney Ridge with his wife and two children.

The family goes to Spanish dances at Radio Rondevoo in Twin Falls and enjoys spending time outside in Jerome.

“They put in a lot of parks here,” Garcia said through an interpreter.

Garcia said he feels connected with what’s happening in Jerome and talks with his neighbors often. The neighborhood is peaceful, and there aren’t any problems, he said. Police officers patrol the area at night.

It’s so safe, Garcia said, he sometimes leaves his keys in the car.

—Julie Wootton

Meet Esmeralda Gonzalez

I

n mid-August, stay-at-home mom Esmeralda Gonzalez and her husband, an insulation worker, were watering their front lawn on 22nd Avenue East as their young daughters played nearby.

The family moved into the neighborhood about seven years ago. At the time, many other homes in the Stoney Ridge subdivision hadn’t been constructed yet.

Gonzalez likes Stoney Ridge because it’s quiet. The family goes to neighbors’ houses for pool parties and for children to play. Most people they know in the neighborhood have children, ranging from newborns to 16-year-olds, Gonzalez said.

The family enjoys swimming and going to Jerome parks and to Skateland in Twin Falls.

—Julie Wootton

Meet Vanessa Diaz

S

tay-at-home mom Vanessa Diaz — a Jerome High School alumna — has lived in Jerome since she was 4 or 5.

Diaz’s husband works 12-hour shifts, six days a week, as a feeder at a dairy. The couple has two sons, ages 1 and 4.

Diaz and her family, who moved into the Stoney Ridge subdivision in December, enjoy spending time with neighbors, going to movies, traveling to Utah and spending time at their family members’ houses in Jerome.

One thing Diaz doesn’t like in her neighborhood: speeding drivers. She allows her children to play outside as long as she’s watching them. And despite a collision in September 2014 that killed a 2-year-old boy, she said, “I still see lots of little kids in the street.”

—Julie Wootton

A10 • Sunday, November 8, 2015

Immigrants Continued from A9

the typical entry wage for graders and sorters of agricultural products is $16,870 per year, and their average wage is $19,640, according to the Idaho Department of Labor’s 2014 Occupational Employment and Wage Survey.

Ceballos works five days a week, starting at 5 p.m. and getting off between 1 and 3 a.m. Around Stoney Ridge, work schedules like his explain why children answered reporters’ knocks on summer mornings while their parents slept.

A block away, onion packer Faviola Jimenez lives with her husband and two sons. The family came from Ucareo, a small town in Michoacan, two years ago and moved into its 21st Avenue East home in June.

All four were home one earlyOctober afternoon. In a living room displaying a statue of Mary, Jimenez sat next to her 8-yearold son, who helped translate and occasionally giggled nervously.

The door to his bedroom was open, displaying a Ninja Turtle poster and Spiderman curtains.

Jimenez’s shifts at Magic Valley Growers in Wendell are generally eight hours, but the schedule is unpredictable.

“Sometimes they call, sometimes they don’t,” she said through an interpreter. But she likes the flexibility.

Her husband, Raul Martinez, sat at the kitchen table. Nearby, his younger son played a game on an electronic tablet.

Martinez works at a dairy six days a week. His shifts are typically 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., he said, and he rises at 5 a.m. to get ready.

Another neighbor originally from Michoacan, David Avila, moved to Jerome four years ago from North Carolina. The undocumented immigrant works in the maternity area of a dairy, helping to deliver and feed calves. His 12-hour days start at 5 a.m., five days a week.

Other neighbors are also dairy or agricultural workers, including Ana Hurtado’s husband, who delivers milk.

Vanessa Diaz — a Jerome High School alumna — is a stay-athome mother whose husband works 12-hour shifts, six days a week, as a feeder at a dairy.

Neighbor Ricardo Rivas is a truck driver for Glanbia, driving for 12-hour shifts around the Magic Valley. He works for a few days and then has a couple off. 

For immigrants who are undocumented or don’t speak English, job options are limited.

And working conditions aren’t always ideal.

Ceballos — who’s in his 60s — works night shifts, but he’s running out of energy. And he says there’s no room for advancement.

Jimenez wants to see more ventilation in her workplace, and there are areas without heat.

The bathroom facilities aren’t adequate at Martinez’s dairy job, he said.

Garcia’s pay has improved because he has stayed at his job for years. But his wage is capped at $12 per hour, and he can’t work extra hours.

To supplement the family’s income, Eudabe runs a party planning business. During summer, she often has several events each weekend, such as birthday parties and weddings. But demand drops off in winter.

Their son Brayan Garcia, who started full-time at College of Southern Idaho this fall to study business administration, works at La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant in Twin Falls to pay for his tuition.

He’s managing to juggle work and classes.

“So far, the experience has been pretty good,” he said.

To save money, the 19-yearold lives with his parents in Stoney Ridge. His parents bought the home under a nephew’s name, which is on the mortgage documents.

“We send a check to him so he gets compensated for what he’s paid,” Eudabe said.

She and her husband are considering selling the house because the $1,200 monthly mortgage obligation is hard to pay. And they don’t have health insurance.

Eudabe had two surgeries, including one to remove her appendix at St. Luke’s Magic

FAR LEFT: Stoney Ridge resident Raul Martinez hugs son Raul Martinez Jimenez before leaving for work in early morning.

LEFT: Faviola Jimenez hands her husband, Raul Martinez, his lunch for the workday early Monday morning, Oct. 12, in Stoney Ridge. She’s an onion packer at Magic Valley Growers in Wendell, and he works at a dairy.

BELOW: Raul Martinez ties son Raul Martinez Jimenez’s shoes before leaving for work. Martinez works at a dairy six days a week, and he rises at 5 a.m. to get ready.

JOY PRUITT, PHOTOS FOR THE TIMES-NEWS‌

“The rule of thumb is we can’t seek medical services unless we can’t bear the pain.”

Guadalupe Eudabe, who has had two surgeries, including one to remove her appendix, at St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌PHOTOS

ABOVE: David Avila watches his niece (not shown) play at home Oct. 13 in Jerome’s Stoney Ridge subdivision. The undocumented immigrant starts his 12-hour shifts at a dairy at 5 a.m., five days a week.

LEFT: Avila watches niece Emily Hernandez, 5, draw in her notebook. Avila, a dairy worker, aspires to be a truck driver but lacks legal authorization to work in the U.S.

Valley Medical Center. She told the hospital she couldn’t pay more than $120 per month toward her bill.

“The rule of thumb is we can’t seek medical services unless we can’t bear the pain,” she said.

Eudabe said her husband is

doing what he must to put food on the table and provide for the family. So he stays at his dairy job.

“At the end of the day,” she said,

“he has no choice.”

Eudabe and her husband entered the U.S. undocumented two decades ago and haven’t gained legal standing. Sergio Garcia used networking to get his job, she said; his brother worked at the dairy. The couple wants to apply for citizenship, but Eudabe called it “impossible.”

The reason for her fear? The 1996 Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act imposes penalties on undocumented immigrants who want to re-enter the U.S. For those who stayed illegally from 180 days to a year, it bars re-entry for three years.

If they’ve been here longer than a year, they’re barred for 10 years.

Now, Eudabe and her husband hope to gain security through their children.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, established in 2012 through President Barack Obama’s executive order, defers prosecution for qualifying undocumented students, allowing them to remain in the U.S. while pursuing education. Deferred Action doesn’t provide a path to citizenship or give students legal immigration status.

Instead, it labels qualifying individuals as low-priority cases, preventing them from being deported for a period of two years. Students must apply for renewal.

In November 2014, Obama announced expansion of the DACA program, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Also, parents of U.S. citizens or permanent residents can request deferred action and the ability to gain work authorization for three years. It’s open to those who have lived in the U.S. continuously since January 2010, and they must pass a background check.

Please see IMMIGRANTS, A11

Acknowledgement The Times-News thanks volunteer interpreters Raquel Arenz, Deyanira Escalona, Eduardo Maciel, Cesar Perez and Melyssa Perez, who assisted reporters with this project.

Sunday, November 8, 2015 • A11

“So far, the experience has been pretty good.”

Brayan Garcia, a full-time student at the College of Southern Idaho and employee at La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant in Twin Falls

Elko Weekend Flights Canceled over Missing Runway Markings ‌ L KO, N E V. ( A P ) E • Flights to and from Elko are on hold until Monday after an inspection found markings missing on about 1,000 feet of runway.‌ The FAA notified the Elko Regional Airport on Thursday that it had to close the runway. FAA Pacific division public affairs manager Ian Gregor said it’s a safety issue, and that regulations require airports to mark reconstructed runways, the Elko Daily Free Press reported.

Markings were obscured by a fog seal applied to the runway during reconstruction that Elko Regional Airport director Mark Gibbs said was approved and largely funded by the FAA. Gibbs said the FAA had ordered the airport

STEPHEN REISS, TIMES-NEWS‌

College of Southern Idaho student Brayan Garcia, who works at La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant in Twin Falls to pay for his tuition, cleans and sets tables Oct. 17. His parents, both undocumented immigrants, bought their home in Jerome’s Stoney Ridge subdivision under a nephew’s name.

Immigrants Continued from A10

Eudabe wants more.

Idaho is home to a lot of undocumented workers who are doing milking and hard labor, she said, and those in power should create a pathway to permanent legalization. 

Some Stoney Ridge residents aspire to more comfortable jobs with better pay.

Dairies are “always hiring people,” Avila said

through an interpreter. He doesn’t like his job, but it’s a paycheck, and it’s a job he can get as an undocumented immigrant. But Avila wants to become a truck driver.

The problem? At Glanbia, for instance, potential hires — including applicants for truck driving jobs — are run through the federal government’s E-Verify system to make sure they have legal authorization to work in the United States.

Jimenez — who said she has a green card — isn’t dissatisfied with her onion job for now. But she wants

to learn English so she can get a better, less physical job eventually.

A Permanent Resident Card, also known as a green card, allows a noncitizen to live and work in the U.S. legally.

Some of Jimenez’s neighbors feel stuck in their jobs, but others have found better options.

Esmeralda Gonzalez — a stay-at-home mother and longtime Magic Valley resident who grew up in the U.S. — used to watch her husband work long hours at a dairy. Rigoberto Gonzalez, originally from

Michoacan, has been in Jerome for eight years after moving from California. He still speaks limited English but said he’s a U.S. citizen. So when a chance for shorter hours came, he could take it.

Now, he does insulation work in Twin Falls five days a week — a job he heard about through his wife’s brother. He helps his daughters with homework and spends holidays with his family — something he never could do before, Esmeralda Gonzalez said.

“He’s just here more.”

to inform airmen about irregular markings.

He said the airport plans to issue a formal complaint against the FAA. “We were not given an opportunity to provide any advanced warning (to passengers),” Gibbs said.

He said at no time during the three-day review did the inspector bring up the issue.

Gregor said the “inspector immediately informed the airport of his findings.”

SkyWest Airlines official Wes Horrocks says typically, two round trip flights run on weekdays and one is scheduled on Saturdays and Sundays.

“We’re working with Delta to make sure they’re contacting all those passengers to reschedule,” Horrocks said.

Man Takes Step in Vegas ‘Thunder From Down Under’ Plea Deal KEN RITTER Associated Press‌

‌ AS VEGAS • A man who L admitted firing a gun while trying to steal costumes and props from the “Thunder From Down Under” male revue on the Las Vegas Strip took another step Friday in a plea deal that is expected to get him up to 25 years in prison.‌ Joey Kadmiri waived a preliminary hearing in a separate felony domestic violence case and told a judge he’ll plead guilty Monday in state court to battery with use of a deadly weapon.

He had been accused of kidnapping, beating and confining a woman at gunpoint in a closet in November 2013.

Kadmiri, 26, pleaded guilty Thursday in Clark County District Court to felony weapon, battery and theft charges in the March 2014 backstage shooting at the Excalibur hotel-casino.

He admitted firing a .44-caliber handgun during a struggle with cast members of the Australian-themed men’s revue who found him backstage trying to steal items including thong underwear.

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