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Idaho's
first Hispanic judge a tribute to the man and the state
By
Stephen J. Lyons
for Headwaters News
When Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne appointed Third District
Judge Sergio A. Gutierrez to the Idaho Court of Appeals this month,
it was a "first" for both the Mexican-born Gutierrez and
the Gem State.
The 47-year-old judge and the state that has been, at times, dragged
unwillingly to the trough of diversity, have become partners in shaping
a new vision for the region.
It's a vision and partnership Idaho needs if it has any change of
shaking off the damaging effects of Ruby Ridge, the Aryan Nations
and many other anti-diversity public relations nightmares.
Gutierrez is the first and only Hispanic judge in Idaho's history,
a fact noted during his first judicial appointment in 1993 by then-Gov.
Cecil Andrus, and a fact that surfaced again with his appointment
to the Idaho Court of Appeals.
This is no ordinary appointment. Sergio Gutierrez's rise to the Appeals
Court is the culmination of a journey that began in poverty in Mexico
and, on paper at least, should never have succeeded.
The story is not finished, of course. Many expect Gutierrez to eventually
occupy a seat on the Idaho Supreme Court. In the meantime, supporters
expect Gutierrez to add compassion to the three-member appellate court.
"When I see folks who have a lot to contribute, I am looking
through my own window," Gutierrez told me. "Their window
is poverty and survival. And the laws in our criminal justice system
have not given us the tools to work with women, men and young adults."
As reported by Idaho Statesman columnist Dan Popkey, Canyon County
Public Defender Scott Fouser said of Gutierrez, "He has a cultural
understanding most of us lack. When he talks to Hispanic defendants
about what´s going on in their lives, he´s looking for
things that a lot of us won´t see and might not consider significant."
Still, this is not simply a story of one Mexican man's journey from
immigration through assimilation to success. The judge's story is
uniquely American -- perhaps the same as our parents', or our grandparents'.
In the cities, towns and new barrios of southwestern Idaho, America
remains the land of opportunities, and some Hispanics are climbing
the economic and political rungs of power. But not all and not easily.
If you can make it as a minority in Idaho, you can make it anywhere.
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Hispanic
tide is rising across West
By
Greg Lakes, editor
Headwaters News
Feb. 6, 2002
The influx of Hispanics into the West poses the most
dramatic demographic changes in the region in a century.
Throughout the Mountain West, companies, communities and regional
economies have come to depend on immigrant labor, both legal and
otherwise.
Particularly since the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act,
workers have spilled across the border, mostly from Mexico, but
also from other Latin American countries.
Mainly they were content to fill the unskilled jobs others wouldn't,
and authorities were content to look the other way.
Now, the numbers have grown into a massive demographic force that
promises to change the face of the region's culture, politics and
economy.
Utah officials estimate there are 30,000
undocumented workers in their state; others guess there as many
as 20 million in the U.S. No one has tried to calculate how much
they contribute to the state or national economy, but the Mexican
government figures they send home $9 billion each year -- after
food, housing and other essentials are bought in the U.S.
In Utah, alone, the number of Hispanics rose
from 84,597 to 201,559, not counting those the census workers
didn't count. Some Utah communities are one-fifth Hispanic; one,
Wendover, on the state's western edge, is two-thirds Hispanic.
And with the numbers, Hispanics' clout is growing. Advocates have
staged at least two demonstrations in Salt Lake City calling for
unions
for undocumented workers, and for changes in immigration laws
that recognize the reality and necessity of illegal immigrants'
labor.
Hispanics offer a huge market, both for U.S. companies and Mexican
retailers. Some estimates put Hispanic buying power in the U.S.
at $450
billion a year. Hispanic businesses catering to Hispanic tastes
have become integral parts of small-business-driven economies in
Idaho, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.
In an possible spillover effect, Corona beer, a product of Mexico,
has become the best-selling import in the U.S., and its parent company
will build
a malting plant in the middle of Idaho's barley country. The
malt will be shipped by rail to breweries in Mexico.
Assimilation has not always been fast or smooth. Arizona lawmakers
finally agreed, under threat of court order, to boost funding for
English-learner classes -- mostly kids of Hispanic families for
whom English is a second language.
But as of early January, lawmakers had yet to carry through, and
one public-interest lawyer was threatening
a suit to deny the state its federal highway funds until they
complied.
In New Mexico, a judge rejected a suit by a community activist who
wanted new congressional districts to include one with a
clear Hispanic majority. The suit unsuccessfully argued that
New Mexico is 42 percent Hispanic, and Hispanics have a unique culture,
language and history that qualifies them as a unique voting bloc.
A sweep of Salt Lake City airport workers in mid-December resulted
in the arrests of 69 workers. Federal agents called it an anti-terrorist
move; Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson called it an act of racial
bias that tore apart local families.
And at the end of December, the Idaho Legislature broke years of
deadlock and approved a minimum
wage for most farm workers. Although the bill was seen as largely
symbolic, Idaho became the 10th state with a minimum farm wage,
and extended the $5.15 federal minimum to as many as 33,000 mainly
Hispanic farm workers.
Meanwhile, the recession
has hit Hispanics particularly hard. Low-skill jobs, plentiful
during the boom of the '90s, are waning with the economy. One national
study predicted that a recovery will reach Hispanic workers last,
perhaps not until well into 2004.
For counterpoint, one economist is predicting that Alberta will
see an influx
of Hispanic and Asian immigrants, and while relations may be
prickly at first, Albertans will quickly realize the necessity.
The provincial work force is aging, and the resident birth rate
is too low to provide enough workers to pay for retirees' social
services. The provincial economy, and those retirees' golden years,
will depend on importing enough workers.
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