Laws: January, 1997 - Number #3

High-paying jobs are luring Mexicans to Alaska. Since 1980, Alaska's Hispanic population has nearly tripled from 9,000 to 25,000. Hispanics now make up 4.2 percent of the state's residents, up from 3.2 percent in 1980.

These data understate the importance of Hispanics in the Alaska work force, since many of the Hispanics are seasonal workers who speak little or no English. In one case, a bus driver who was paid $600 to $800 each by 35 Mexican immigrants for transporting them from Mexico and dropping them off at the Alaska state employment office.

The State Employment Service has advised potential newcomers to Alaska to have a guaranteed job, a round-trip ticket and enough money to last two months. The employment service says that Alaska is not a place to be stranded without housing or employment.

The SAW program increased the mobility of previously unauthorized Mexicans and some were drawn to Alaska by stories of high fishing wages. They soon learned that Alaska has high living costs, but some stayed, attracted by the fact that Alaska has no sales or state income tax and annual payouts to residents. In 1996, the annual payout was $1,130.68.

Alaska is also considered more tolerant of different people and cultures than many other states.

In Utah, formerly migrant workers from Mexico are settling down as permanent residents and becoming year-round workers in the meat packing industry. Utah State University economist Dawn Thilmany believes that many immigrants are filling jobs that otherwise may not have been filled.

Police report that in metropolitan Salt Lake City, 80 percent of those arrested on drug charges are illegal immigrants. A Latino theater group in Salt Lake City performed a play centered on the INS scaring away the unauthorized shepherds abiding in the field.

Undocumented immigrants in Utah have never been eligible for welfare benefits. State officials say about 6,400 legal immigrants receive food stamps, representing six percent of the 107,299 Food Stamp recipients in the state.

About 60 percent of Utah's foreign-born population came to the state since 1980, causing, in some remote counties, the Hispanic population to triple and quadruple in 14 years. For example, the number of Latinos in Cache county increased from 700 in 1980 to 2800 in 1994 as the E. A. Miller slaughterhouse located in Hyrum hired Latinos. Over half of the company's 1,400 workers are Latinos.

Underground gold mining is attracting migrants to Nevada in the search for an estimated 100 million ounces of gold. Nevada produces 60 percent of US gold.

The major mining companies, Canadian-based Barrick, Newmont Gold, Independence Mining and Getchell Gold Corporation, are recruiting mine workers. US Department of Labor data indicate that 7,467 workers are employed in underground metal mines and 18,086 work in surface mines, extracting gold, silver, copper and iron. The Gold Institute says 3,000 miners are employed in 12 underground gold mines in Alaska, Arizona, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota and Washington.

Surface miners earn $17.50 an hour and underground miners $20 to $22 per hour. One mine installed a $19 million air-conditioning system to improve working conditions.

Shawn Foster, "Migrants in Utah are leaving nomadic farm life," Salt Lake Tribune, December 29, 1996. Deborah Frazier, "To Colorado migrants, Thanksgiving is just another day of work," Fresno Bee, November 29, 1996. Jon Christensen, "Gold Mining Goes Underground," New York Times, November 16, 1996. Enrique Rangel, "Immigrants being lured to Alaska by tales of riches, Hispanics have nearly tripled since '80," Dallas Morning News, November 11, 1996.