Conexion May 2018
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Opinión - Columnistas & Blogs<br />
Opinion - Columnists & Blogs<br />
Latinos in Baldwin County<br />
By Angela Grace Caine<br />
The Latino worker<br />
has always played<br />
a major part in the<br />
workforce of Baldwin county Alabama.<br />
From the strawberry farms in the north<br />
to the construction and hospitality jobs<br />
in the south, lower Alabama would<br />
simply not function properly without<br />
its Hispanic workforce. Interestingly<br />
enough, this demand for Latin<br />
American workers remains high in spite<br />
of any and all attempts at immigration<br />
reform. Whether it be Republicans or<br />
Democrats, it doesn’t seem to matter.<br />
Both side recognize the valuable<br />
workers that come from south and<br />
Central America.<br />
In addition, the economic developers<br />
and job creators of Baldwin county<br />
would like to be even more<br />
aggressive in bringing new jobs to<br />
their communities. In order to bring<br />
more agricultural, manufacturing,<br />
and hospitality jobs to the gulf<br />
coast, Alabama will need even more<br />
skilled and unskilled workers. Thus,<br />
Hispanics of all kinds and skill sets will<br />
be necessary to help drive Alabama’s<br />
economic growth.<br />
The downside is that the Latino<br />
community along the gulf coast<br />
does not appear to have the same<br />
levels of support and representation<br />
commensurate with their large and<br />
ever-growing numbers. Their issues<br />
are under represented on a local, state<br />
and federal level. This causes the<br />
Hispanic community to remain largely<br />
vulnerable to things like discrimination,<br />
injustice, poverty, fair access to<br />
healthcare and isolation. In fact,<br />
instead of Alabama Latinos becoming<br />
a more visible part of the community,<br />
it appears that they remain the “strong<br />
but silent” community. This puts Latinos<br />
at risk when they get injured, arrested,<br />
or simply need help. The author of this<br />
article has long represented foreign<br />
nationals in the state of Alabama.<br />
Whether it’s executives from Germany<br />
who work at Mercedes or the migrant<br />
farm worker from Guanajuato in Bay<br />
Minette, our office has provided legal<br />
support and advice to this community<br />
for over 20 years.<br />
A large part of our time is spent<br />
educating Alabama elected officials<br />
from City, County and State, to<br />
judges, law enforcement and financial<br />
institutions on the unique needs<br />
of this important community. Our<br />
services have included assisting in the<br />
transportation of the deceased back<br />
to their homes and families in Mexico<br />
and prosecuting their wrongdoers<br />
when they have injured or killed our<br />
Hispanic brothers, as well as assisting<br />
Latino entrepreneurs in setting up<br />
small businesses and shops. Our office<br />
has a unique understanding of what<br />
it feels like to be an ex pat in the USA<br />
and particularly in the state of Alabama.<br />
We can assist our clients in English,<br />
German, Spanish, and French, and more<br />
importantly we understand crossborder<br />
transactions and foreign legal<br />
systems. Our goal is to provide seamless<br />
support across all legal matters and in<br />
all languages.<br />
We look forward to continuing our<br />
support of Alabama Latino citizens and<br />
helping them fully integrate into the<br />
fabric of Alabama life.<br />
Angela Grace Caine<br />
www.GraceCaine.com<br />
ANUNCIATE EN CONEXIÓN<br />
ADVERTISE WITH US! LLÁMANOS:<br />
Gabriel Vargas - (850) 261-2358<br />
Erika Rojas - (305) 878-5573 (Tallahassee)<br />
Conexión Main: (850) 368-3505<br />
conexionflorida@gmail.com<br />
www.conexionflorida.com<br />
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