Immigration's Front Line
Just outside the eastern Arizona town of Willcox (pop. 3,800), a community of makeshift homes has taken root amid the orchards and farmland. House trailers, mobile homes, recreational vehicles, vans and even the occasional bus have been planted in rows along pockmarked dirt roads, with small yards that sport almost as many broken-down cars on blocks as trees. Several have sprouted appendages — extra rooms made of blocks and plywood — to accommodate larger families. The structures look improvised, and yet there's an air of permanence about it all, a sense of people getting settled.
This ramshackle neighborhood, derisively nicknamed Winchester Estates, is home to the area's farmworkers and their children. But it is also a monument to the nation's dysfunctional immigration policies. Many of the community's farmers are here illegally, making up a small part of the thousands who come into Arizona without visas every night. Editorial in The Los Angeles Times.
This ramshackle neighborhood, derisively nicknamed Winchester Estates, is home to the area's farmworkers and their children. But it is also a monument to the nation's dysfunctional immigration policies. Many of the community's farmers are here illegally, making up a small part of the thousands who come into Arizona without visas every night. Editorial in The Los Angeles Times.