Leaning against a banyan tree, he calmly smokes a cigarette. Every so often he nods hello to a passing man, all the while watching as an occasional car illuminates his face with its headlights. He notices a band of young men huddled close to the street, exchanging stories and jokes, laughing every so often.

Suddenly, a pair of headlights remain fixed on his face as the group of young men clamor into the back of a Ford pickup and make room for themselves amidst the weed trimmers and fertilizer bags. The man leaning against the banyan nods goodbye in the early morning shadows and hopes another truck will stop.

Earning, on average, $250 per week, undocumented day laborers of mainly Guatemalan or Mexican descent are common in Jupiter. They can be seen riding in clusters in the back of pickup trucks next to Lexus SUV’s, cutting and fertilizing the lawns of the middle class, and waiting for employment outside low income housing complexes directly facing well-manicured neighborhoods of two-story houses.

The dividing line is Center Street. Every day, swarms of 20 to 30-something year old men – having little or no health insurance, motorized transportation, knowledge of the English language or American customs, or most importantly, documentation – hover by the street as traffic slows behind lawn company vehicles and agricultural pickups.

Dr. Steigenga, a professor of political science at FAU’s Wilkes Honors College noticed the growing Hispanic population in and around Center Street and decided to do something about it. First, he got together some of his colleagues and student volunteers and started asking questions.

“The community needed to assess how to deal with the change in the population,” Steigenga says. “After researching and asking tons of questions, we found that the Hispanics wanted to learn English, they wanted steady work, and documentation. They’re here to work not to steal money or leer at your daughter.”

That is something espoused by the various day labor organizations across the nation. They want work, not charity.

In 2003 Steigenga and his colleagues decided to team up with a nonprofit group called Corn Maya and open an office on Old Dixie Highway. The group began providing all kinds of assistance for illegal and legal Hispanic workers from job referrals and legal assistance to cultural events and a soccer league.

The problem was that not everyone in the community saw these illegal workers the same way. One resident in particular is strongly against employing and legalizing illegals. The former U.S. Coast Guard explained, “These illegals are taking advantage of the rights that vets, like me, gave to you … American vets are serving their country to protect it but the government is spitting in their faces…You don’t know who these people are.” He requested to remain anonymous. His fear: that a local Mexican gang known as the MS13 would retaliate against him.

When Corn Maya decided to extend their services to a larger and more effective community resource center for day laborers, the residents of Jupiter responded. With fears of chain migration – an increasing deluge of illegal immigrants to a proven safe haven for illegals – he and a few other concerned Jupiter residents organized a counter organization called Jupiter Neighbors Against Illegal Labor or JNAIL.

The Coast Guard explained, “A law is a law. It will be an illegal hiring hall. JNAIL is just a bunch of neighbors trying to do something about the huge problem in Jupiter. We’re a haven for illegal labor.”

But Steigenga doesn’t see the workers the same way. “They violate one federal law. We break the speed limit every day. In fact, the local and state police have no right to enforce immigration law. It is a federal offense. Our response then is to better the equality of life for them as a community… for the entire community,” Steigenga says.

In the midst of the debate are students like Gaby Botta, who spent Spring Semester interning at the Corn Maya office. With nearly every event and service, Corn Maya has received help from a number of FAU student interns who have helped organize events, update their website, and attend organizational board meetings. Though organizing Fiesta Maya became intern Gaby Botta’s main responsibility this year, she also became involved in the fight to win funding for a labor resource center for the day laborers.

“I think the labor center would be a good idea. People don’t understand what benefits it would bring,” said Botta.

The labor center in Jupiter would attempt to offer a more effective way to improve the quality of life for immigrants who are troubled by overcrowding, language barriers, and finding employment. With job boards, English as a Second Language courses, lessons in the rights and responsibilities as U.S. and Jupiter, FL residents, and legalization help, the center would focus on better assimilating the Hispanic immigrants into American society. However, after two years of town council meetings and a dead lock debate between one side of Center Street and the other, the labor center had yet to be built.

With an estimated cost of $1,000,000 for the center, the real issue came down to how to gain funding from a town council unwilling to take a political stance one way or the other.

Jim Kuretski, the North District Town Councilor, proposed to reallocate $831,000 designated for “aesthetic improvements to a single intersection at US1 and Indiantown Road” to the labor center, but the rest of the councilors had not yet agreed. In fact they had only earmarked $200,000 in its Community Investment Plan (CIP) for the purposes of setting up a community resource center.

It seemed that even Mayor Karen J. Golonka wanted to sweep the entire issue underneath the rug.

“The mayor didn’t find it important enough to rearrange the schedule to talk about the work center even though mostly everyone wanted to talk about that.”

What they ended up discussing for the majority of the meeting was adding a traffic signal on Indian Creek Parkway, leaving only a few minutes for limited discussion regarding the resource center.

“A lot of people showed up to support the work center,” Botta said, regarding a past Town Council meeting on February 1. “The Board of Corn Maya, 30 to 40 people of the Guatemalan community, and students from FAU were there – as opposed to the people in red.”

Students who attended the town council meetings had a chance to note how reactionary JNAIL, donning their customary red shirts, could be.

According to Botta, a number of JNAIL members used the council meeting to discriminate against the undocumented immigrants.

“I think ‘racist’ is a good word for them. You don’t have to be overtly racist to be racist,” Botta commented. “The students [who attended] were enraged.”

Hiyam Ahmed, who attended the council meetings with a group of students, agrees with Botta.

“I was surprised at how short the dialogue was and how close-minded some of the Jupiter residents were.”

One man, raising up a photo of one of the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Centers on September 11, 2001, said that the council would be creating a haven for terrorists like the those of the 9/11 tragedy by endorsing a labor center for illegal aliens.

Another man questioned whose fault it would be if he ran over a Guatemalan who didn’t wear reflectors or light colored clothing as he walked along the street.

With the seeming unorganized and uncooperative torpor of the meetings – Dr. Steigenga had even become skeptical about the council’s effectiveness.

“There will probably be no change unless they change council members. They are unwilling to act and basically afraid of political fallout. There is a fear of the unknown, and they don’t know how to use their resources to change social issues.”

That all changed on April 5 when the town council voted unanimously to purchase property at the corner of Indiantown Road and Military Trail previously owned by the Lifesong Community Church in order to establish the resource center. The site, which is in walking distance of Center Street, is located next to town hall and will be ready to open its doors to the day laborers by the end of the summer.

With funding from the town budget, Corn Maya hopes to move the day labor traffic from Center Street to the new office where employees and interns can provide ample attention to the needs of the immigrants and demonstrate that the immigrants are not a threat to the rest of the Jupiter community.

“The labor center will resolve issues on Center Street with people waiting to be picked up. People’s property values will go up, and Corn Maya will try to teach English and American law to [them],” said Botta.

The prospect of expanding the efforts of Corn Maya to a new building will offer new opportunities for FAU students to participate in internships directly helping and influencing an entire sub-community within their own.

Jocelyn Sabbagh, student at the Honors College and a native Guatemalan, anticipates her upcoming internship this summer where she will teach English as a Second Language (ESL) courses and offer assistance with petty legal problems such as responding to landlords or dealing with money.

“I’m excited about working there. It’s something I hope I can get into more,” said Sabbagh.

Whether or not the new labor center will heal the community debate remains to be seen.

Residents like the JNAIL organizer who are “just disgusted” at the prospect of supporting illegal immigrants will not be so quick to change their minds once the center opens at the end of summer.

JNAIL is not alone in their position on the subject. After donning their red shirts and signs during the protest on MLK Jr. Day, the Jupiter Courier, in an editorial on January 19, applauded the efforts of JNAIL for “being willing to get off their sofas, turn off their TVs and take part in the process of protest upon which this nation is founded.”

The article further stated how “especially heartening to see this sort of grassroots political effort [occur] during a week in which we set aside a day to honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His non-violent protest movement changed a nation.”

The article inspired another concerned citizen to write a letter to the editor of the Jupiter Courier. Dr. Christopher Strain, professor of U.S. History and American Studies at the Honors College, wrote, “to attack one of the weakest groups in our community during the week of Martin Luther King Day at a family event designed to encourage learning about local government is as inappropriate as it is insulting to the legacy of Dr. King, who worked tirelessly to create a space in American society for those who are poor and disadvantaged.

“I was troubled by the Jupiter Courier’s response because they praised this group JNAIL for reviling the Guatemalan immigrants in the name of civil rights,” Dr. Strain said.

“I think Corn Maya has made great strides in helping new immigrants assimilate into life in South Florida. I think that Jupiter is a better place because of their presence. They add to our economy as well as diversify our area.”

“The U.S. is a nation of immigrants – always has been, always will be.”Though Center Street may no longer be the dividing line, the possibility of uniting the communities within Jupiter may be separated by a gulf of impassioned sentiments.

Living Conditions*of Jupiter’s illegal immigrants)

– Nearly five percent of the total U.S. labor force is comprised of undocumented workers.

– According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Florida contractors were cited 916 times for failure to pay wages when due, 464 times for failure to provide safe transport vehicles, 442 times for failure to present workers with proper wage statements, and 431 instances of interfering with federal investigators.

– The average immigrant contributes $1800 more in taxes than he or she receives in benefits and services provided by the government.

– There are at least 118 Worker Centers in 30 states; five in Florida

– Housing inspectors have found eight or more illegal immigrants living in one-bedroom houses.

Basic facts about Corn Maya

For four years, Corn Maya has also put on the annual Fiesta Maya event that takes place in Abacoa town center right next to the FAU campus. The event drew around 1,500 participants this year with an estimated five to ten percent non-Hispanic residents in attendance. Dressed in traditional and ceremonial costumes and elaborate headdresses, the mainly indigenous participants (pictured on the cover and on Page 8) parade down Main Street alongside a dancing and celebrating crowd. A number of bands also play traditional music as vendors sell foods during the daylong celebration.