(18 May 1995) Eng/Span/Nat

Aid workers have expressed concern over thousands of illegal immigrants from Mexico, living in appalling conditions in southern California.

Some have been forced to live in ditches, or even holes in the ground, after their makeshift camps were razed by US officials.

This is where they gather now. At a meeting just outside of San Diego.

Migrant workers without permanent homes. Many of these people are illegal immigrants from Mexico looking for work in the United States.

These workers risk deportation for menial wages in southern California's
underground economy. The money earned is usually sent back to a family at home in another country.

Compared to a life left behind in Mexico, it's worth the chance.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"Because what I make in Mexico...it's very little....and since Mexico is in such a big crisis I came here to make more money to support my family.''

SUPER CAPTION: Isidro Quiroz, migrant worker.

With no way to rent an apartment or find permanent housing because of their status, living conditions for these people are desperate.

They once gathered in large makeshift camps. The conditions were not the best, but the camps offered security and a sense of permanence.

But last October, that all changed in this part of southern California.

Upset about migrants living on their property, affluent residents of this area had the migrant camps razed to the ground.

Now the workers are forced to live in even more squalid conditions.

SOUNDBITE: "Right now, since the camps have been razed and everything has been basically closed down, the guys live in....groups of four or five in the canyons....sometimes in just little holes in the ground like they had before. And they don't have any sort of sanitation. They don't have any access to any clean water."
SUPER CAPTION: Michael Akong, church volunteer.

Local charity groups have tried to help the displaced immigrants.

New camps have been erected, but they are inhabited not just by the migrants, but by drug abusers and criminals.

Many say the risk of working illegally in the United States is still worth it, but they would rather avoid living in what's left of the camps.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"Yes, I would come back to the United States to work, if I left for Mexico. But I would not live in the camp, because there are a lot of white people who are very prejudiced. And they're on drugs and they have killed people here and they continue to harass them and beat them."
(Quiroz).

Despite this new atmosphere of hate toward many of the workers, they still come. Not so much because they want to, but with family back home, they must.

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