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Alabama immigration law sends Hispanic families fleeing The tough new state measure, largely upheld a federal district judge, seeks to drive illegal immigrants from the state by curtailing many of their rights. In this Hispanic community on the state’s Gulf Coast, the effects are evident.
In Foley, a sprawling seaside resort town where hundreds of Hispanic immigrants work, many families were saying tearful goodbyes to neighbors and co-workers they might never see again. From left are Susana Grifaldo, Silvia Diaz and Gemma Lozada, with two of her children, Eddy Diaz, 2, and Jerry Diaz, 18 months. Their families were all moving from Alabama.
Sarah L. Voisin
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The Washington Post
Lisa Snow, right, shops at a yard sale in Foley. Several immigrant families were selling their belongings before leaving the state. As she looked for clothes for her new granddaughter, she said she felt sorry for the Mexicans. In the background are Gemma Lozada, 30, with son Eddy — they were heading to Mississippi.
Sarah L. Voisin
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The Washington Post
Lisa Snow sorts through clothes at the yard sale. “I don’t know what to think. The law is supposed to be doing one thing, but it seems to be doing the opposite,” Snow said. She said she had just lost her office job but was sorry that the Mexican families were losing everything. “It just feels very personal now,” she said.
Sarah L. Voisin
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The Washington Post
Charlotte Laughter, right, 60, gives a teary goodbye hug to her co-worker and friend Susana Grifaldo, 42. Grifaldo and her family were leaving for Tennessee.
Sarah L. Voisin
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The Washington Post
Stacy Salvador, 10 months, looks through the glass at Drakos, an American bulldog. Stacy is a U.S. citizen, but her mother is an illegal immigrant. They left Foley shortly after this photo for a flight back to Mexico.
Sarah L. Voisin
/
The Washington Post
Angel Coronilla, 6, right, and his brother, Aaron, 3, play on the bed of the trailer their grandparents are selling . The grandparents, illegal immigrants, were moving to Texas, leaving behind their U.S.-born grandchildren. "I don't even want to talk about this law,” Angel said. “It is so sad."
Sarah L. Voisin
/
The Washington Post
A statue of St. Jude in Foley holds photos of parents who remained in Mexico. The family that owns the statue was leaving Alabama.
Sarah L. Voisin
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The Washington Post
Praxedis Teran, 50, left and Angel Coronilla, 53, were packing their trailer in Foley and moving to Texas. Many of the trailers at the mobile-home park were already vacant.
Sarah L. Voisin
/
The Washington Post
In Foley, for-sale signs are pinned to abandoned trailers in mobile-home parks. Across Alabama, news of the court ruling upholding the state’s tough new immigration law has swiftly spread panic and chaos among trailer parks and working-class areas where legal and illegal immigrant families from Mexico and Central America — as many as 150,000 people, by some estimates — live and work at jobs their bosses say local residents largely refuse to do.
Sarah L. Voisin
/
The Washington Post
Carlos Guerrero, center, receives his last paycheck from his boss, Hasty Laney, in Foley. He and his father worked for Laney for years. "They are my right arm,and I hate to see them go,” Laney said. Laney also owns the house they are renting and is helping the family store their belongings while they move to Tennessee.
Sarah L. Voisin
/
The Washington Post
Tommy Boatwright is the manager of a Foley trailer park where many of the residents have left. “They are my very best renters,” he said of some of the Hispanic families who were leaving. “They are hardworking and never cause trouble. I really hate to see them go.”
Sarah L. Voisin
/
The Washington Post
Many Latinos clean the condominiums and work in the restaurants in Gulf Shores, Ala. The state’s new law punishes anyone who knowingly employs, houses or assists illegal immigrants and requires schools and police to verify immigrants’ legal status.
Sarah L. Voisin
/
The Washington Post
At Mi Pueblo Supermarket in Clanton, Ala., Selene Brito, 19, organizes a display on a very slow day. Business had dropped significantly recently.
Sarah L. Voisin
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The Washington Post
Members of the Jaime family light a prayer candle at St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Foley. Many Hispanic families, including this one, have legal and illegal members, presenting some with wrenching choices in the wake of the new law.
Sarah L. Voisin
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The Washington Post
Otilia Gaona, a U.S. citizen, wipes a tear as she hears illegal-immigrant parishioners at St. Margaret of Scotland talk about their situations.
Sarah L. Voisin
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The Washington Post
The Rev. Paul Zoghby celebrates a Mass in Spanish at St. Margaret. “We’ve already lost 20 percent of the congregation in the past few weeks, and many more will be gone by next week,” Zoghby said. “It is a human tragedy.”
Sarah L. Voisin
/
The Washington Post
In Foley, some residents have been frustrated by the influx of Hispanic immigrants, especially those that are illegal. Some long-time parishioners left St. Margaret when it initiated a formal ministry to Hispanics.
Sarah L. Voisin
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The Washington Post
Otilia Gaona lights a prayer candle under Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Margaret.
Sarah L. Voisin
/
The Washington Post
“This is the saddest thing I have experienced in my 18 years as a priest,” the Rev. Paul Zoghby said. But as its backers see it, the law is a long-overdue panacea that will open up thousands of jobs to struggling Alabamans squeezed out of the market by cheap illegal labor.
Sarah L. Voisin
/
The Washington Post
Zoghby, center, treats a handful of parishioners to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant after the evening Spanish-language Mass. For many there, it was a goodbye gathering.
Sarah L. Voisin
/
The Washington Post
Susana Grifaldo, right, jokes about her height with Diana Rudisill, her friend from church, after they dined together after Mass in Foley.
Sarah L. Voisin
/
The Washington Post
Cindilou Mullinax, right, gives a goodbye hug to Grifaldo, her co-worker. Grifaldo, 42, quit her job and was moving to Tennessee.There has been an outpouring of sympathy and sadness from longtime inhabitants of Foley toward Hispanic families they had gotten to know as neighbors, co-workers, tenants or employees. Even some who said they opposed illegal immigration and supported the new law seemed to feel conflicted about seeing families they had come to know and like suddenly leaving.
Sarah L. Voisin
/
The Washington Post
Carla Guerrero, 25, center, wipes the birthday cake off her face at a Mexican restaurant with her fellow church members. From left are Alfonso Guerrero, John and Diana Rudisill, and the Rev. Paul Zoghby.
Sarah L. Voisin
/
The Washington Post
Susana Grifaldo, 42, hugs daughter, Carla, at her birthday party. At right is Grifaldo's husband, Alfonso Guerrero, 47, with their friend's baby, 10-month-old Stacy Salvador. The family was moving to Tennessee, The baby and her mother were returning to Mexico.
Sarah L. Voisin
/
The Washington Post
Alfonso Guerrero grasps the hands of his wife, Susana Grifaldo as they talk about their move to Tennessee. The couple and their three children were in the United States illegally.
Sarah L. Voisin
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The Washington Post
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