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Hispanic community, stores support one another
Yet after years of steady growth, some say Hispanic population growth in East Dayton is slowing.
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Sunday, May 04, 2008
DAYTON — Adrianna Sotelo, born in Mexico, is a permanent U.S. resident, but she said because her English is spotty and she clearly looks Hispanic, she's often treated differently when she shops in Dayton's suburbs.
"They ask me where I come from, and they look mean at me and my children," she said. "I tell them my children are born here. They are citizens. I'm trying to spend money. Why would people treat us like this?"
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At the Dayton store where Adrianna Sotelo works, having an accent isn't a problem. At La Favorita Supermercado on East Third Street, Spanish is the dominant language. La Favorita is one of at least seven stores in Montgomery County specializing in foods from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Central America and other Spanish-speaking countries.
Though the local Hispanic population has never been large, it's likely that the Census numbers underestimate the true picture particularly in Dayton, according to local social service agencies.
"We're a big community in the United States," said Jesus Sotelo, who runs La Favorita Supermercado with his wife Adrianna. "Here in Ohio, we're a smaller minority."
Sotelo said, though, that until recently there has been plenty of business at his 1910 E. Third St. store because many of the area's Hispanic residents live in the east Dayton neighborhoods nearby. But he said after years of steady growth, the Hispanic population in Dayton seems to be shrinking.
Sotelo said local police for the last six months to a year have been finding reasons to stop Hispanics on the street and in cars, and many of those who have been stopped have not had legal status. As people are arrested and deported, others without legal status have fled the area, he said.
"People I know who have been here eight or nine years, they're stable, but they're not legal," Sotelo said. "At first the police would stop people in their cars, so a lot stopped driving. Now they stop people for just walking.
"The thing that makes us mad is that they stop us when we're just trying to go to work. We aren't drug dealers and gang bangers."
Luis "Israel" Ruiz, director of operations for the six-store Michoacana Mexican Market chain, said he's noticed the same police enforcement patterns near the company's Dayton location at 748 Troy St.
"If you've got black hair and dark skin, you expect to get stopped," Ruiz said.
Richard Biehl, Dayton's new police chief, said there has been no police effort to actively seek the arrest of undocumented residents in the city.
However, if someone is stopped for a traffic violation and is unable to provide identification, that person may face arrest, Biehl said. And if someone is in the country illegally, that person probably will not have a legitimate driver's license.
"Enforcing immigration law is a federal responsibility, not ours," Biehl said. "But traffic enforcement definitely is our responsibility."
If an officer can't establish a driver's identification, then instead of getting a ticket the driver is taken to jail.
Once an unidentified person is in jail, the Montgomery County Sheriff's office works with immigration officials to establish identity. That often leads to deportation.
Biehl said he's working on policies to lessen the impact of traffic enforcement on the Hispanic population, but he said traffic enforcement remains a priority.
Store owners say fear of deportation turning customers away
Jesus and Adrianna Sotelo, who live in Huber Heights, have owned and operated La Favorita for about three years. Adrianna works the store every day, but Jesus mostly works on Fridays, their busiest day. Other days he works for a local fire equipment manufacturer.
Jesus Sotelo said the grocery store doesn't make enough money to support his family because the drop in Hispanic population has cut about 60 percent of the store's business in the last year.
Jan Lepore-Jentleson, executive director for East End Community Services Corp., said the problems caused by arrests and deportations goes far beyond hurting the Hispanic grocery business.
"This is a major issue for the Latino population right now, and it's an issue for other immigrant communities, too," Lepore-Jentleson said.
The biggest problem, she said, is that it's typically men who are stopped, arrested and deported.
"These are families living from paycheck to paycheck and all of a sudden the breadwinner is gone," she said. "Their children are really traumatized when they're fathers don't return home."
East End and other agencies serving Hispanic families try to find services to feed the children and keep the families left behind from becoming homeless.
Ruiz, who was born in the United States, said it's a shame that police are driving hard working people out of town.
"Some people may not be legal, but they're working, and they're paying taxes," he said. "We've got all kinds of immigrants living around here in North Dayton. There are a lot of Mexicans and Central Americans, but there are a lot of Russians, too.
"If they weren't living here, most of the houses would be empty," Ruiz said. "We need to find a way to live together."
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2395 or jcummings@DaytonDailyNews.com.
