A Clash of Cultures

The growing clash of cultures in North County--between upper-middle-class Americans and poor, often illegal, immigrants--is, in large part, the byproduct of change: Farmland is filling up with housing, and a new immigration law is in the process of legalizing thousands of mostly poor immigrants.

Nowhere else in the country is the clash so evident, sociologists say, as in the San Diego area. Dirt-poor immigrants--some legal, some not--literally live in hovels or holes in the ground, sometimes just a few yards from homes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. What used to be an almost invisible work force for growers and the tourist industry is now standing on suburban street corners looking for day work.

But the fact that the clash may diminish as more homes supplant fields and as the newly legal residents are absorbed doesn’t calm many North County residents.

As a recent Times series illustrated, many homeowners are uneasy and frustrated, even fearful. And many are hounding government officials for solutions.

The fear and the frustration of these North County residents is understandable. Poverty isn’t pretty. When people don’t have a toilet, they use the bushes. In this case, the bushes are often right next to someone’s house. If people don’t have a bathtub or a shower, they are going to be dirty, even when they shop at grocery stores in middle-class neighborhoods.

Poverty also can prompt crime, and this is probably the biggest concern of most North County residents. Stealing such survival items as blankets, sleeping bags, barbecue grills and food is understandable. But that’s little comfort for the person whose house has been broken into and who feels frightened and violated.

No one knows how much crime is committed by migrants. Accurate statistics are scant.

But police say they do get many reports of trespassing, minor property damage and burglaries. Also, residents complain of taunts and catcalls from groups of unemployed men standing on the street, and they worry for their children’s safety. The arrest of several illegal aliens on suspicion of raping a Poway teen-ager fueled the fear.

But, whether migrants commit a disproportionate amount of crime or not, North County law enforcement officials do seem to be fairly sure of some things: Most of the crime committed by aliens is against other aliens and very little crime involves violence against residents.

Finding remedies for this clash of cultures won’t be easy, because many of those who want to banish the migrants also benefit, directly or indirectly, from their low-paid labor.

The search for solutions won’t be helped, either, if fear becomes hysteria. Threats of vigilante action serve no purpose. And such tactics as trying to persuade a priest to stop ministering to migrants only show the lack of compassion of the persuaders.