D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
July 2009
Colonias Development Council
Page: 2Waste Connections wanted to open a new landfill near a housing area of Chaparral, the state's largest colonia, with 20,000 residents scattered throughout Dona Ana and Otero counties. Chaparral already has the dubious distinction of having three landfills.
The project first came to light in 2001. In 2007, after a long battle by CDC against the project, the company agreed to consider moving the landfill several miles north of the original planned location. At one point Waste Connections used a local resident who was known for her almost daily trash patrols in the community, citing her as a reason the landfill was needed.
To CDC activists, the landfill location became an issue of environmental justice. Often, landfills and the like are located in a poverty-stricken area such as southern New Mexico or near an American Indian nation.
"The community showed that they were against it eight years ago, and the struggle is ongoing," says Carmona. "We helped the people in the community to build their own network, using one-on-one organizing skills. Each community has its own issues, and we teach the community the tools that they will need to have an infrastructure."
Another issue that comes up often is the fact that most colonia residents have to use propane instead of natural gas, and propane is often twice as expensive as natural gas. CDC hopes that infrastructure improvements will soon allow many colonia residents to make the switch.
"We have monthly meetings with a core group of residents that allow them to develop their own organization which will empower them," Carmona says. "They can then attend meetings, such as county commissioner meetings, and have more presence while working with government officials. It becomes comparable to a civil-rights movement."
After a group of colonia residents attends a government-sponsored meeting, Carmona will meet with them again, asking, "Now what is on your mind?" and "What happened for you in the process?"
Since CDC is not a fundraising group, it works closely with HUD. The federal agency provides the money for infrastructure projects including water, roads, wastewater treatment facilities and other necessities.
"We work to make sure that residents are given rights of way, and wastewater systems," says Bustamante. "Potable water must come from private water companies, but if a home is close enough to the source, they can have a well."
CDC also works with the New Mexico Department of Public Education in developing literacy programs. In Dona Ana County alone, 30% of the residents have less than an eighth-grade education; fewer than 60% of Las Cruces students graduate from high school.
Couple those facts with some other discouraging statistics, such as the county averaging only 69% of the national median household income and 32% of county residents living under the poverty line. Las Cruces ranks as the fifth-poorest Metropolitan Statistic Area (MSA) in the US, and New Mexico ranks worst among all 50 states for the rate of children living in poverty. All that helps make education a top priority for the CDC.
Neither Bustamante nor Carmona is shy when it comes to the subject of racism toward people of the colonias. "Things like anti-Spanish [language use] are forms of camouflaged racism," Bustamante believes. "There have been incidents where someone from Chaparral has called 911 only to be told 'English only,' and not have a response to the emergency.
"There is more friction than there needs to be with law enforcement," she goes on. "There is racial profiling of people who are stopped by the Border Patrol under 'suspicion.'"
Although most colonias residents between Las Cruces and El Paso are about 95% Mexican in origin, about 30% of Chaparral's residents are of European descent.
Bustamante also cites incidents with the Otero County Sheriff's Department, during immigration "sweeps" in 2007, that resulted in numerous people being detained whose US residency was questioned. That led to charges of not having search warrants and targeting households on the basis of ethnicity. Although a lawsuit was won and accords were reached, trust issues remain concerning the police and other law-enforcement groups, she says.
Despite such roadblocks, CDC has been remarkably successful in its efforts to extend justice to all people, not just those who can buy it. The council was also instrumental in collecting affidavits from farm workers in Hatch in the 1990s, when the US Commission on Civil Rights investigated the housing practices described in the village ordinances. A number of families settled out of court, and the village of Hatch had to change its "discriminating language" as it developed a "fair comprehensive housing plan."
Current projects include a planned apartment building, to be made with earth-friendly compressed-dirt blocks, and the Chaparral Family Development Center. That center houses a Head Start program, Happy Face Daycare and the Creaciones Yucca Sewing Group.
But much work remains for colonias, including getting the message across that residents are, for the most part, just average citizens who need a hand up — not illegal immigrants living on the dole.
"These are social, political and economic issues," Bustamante insists. "They need to have solutions; they don't have to be criminalized."
More information about the Colonias Development Council, including volunteer and donation opportunities, can be found at www.colonias.org or by calling 647-2744 in Las Cruces.