GROWING TENSION BETWEEN AFFLUENT HOMEOWNERS AND
MIGRANT CAMP RESIDENTS MAKES FOR 'UNEASY NEIGHBORS'
For nearly 10 years, the Green Valley Camp in North San Diego County provided a primitive, makeshift home to hundreds of migrants from Mexico and Latin America. The story of the camp-- the tenuous existence of the migrants, the increasing tension of between the camp and its affluent neighbore and its final closing on February 1, 1989-- is the subject of the KPBS documentary "Uneasy Neighbors."
Green Valley is only one of more than 150 migrant camps closed in San Diego's North County since 1985. The more than 20,000 migrant workers who live in these are swelling the growing ranks of homeless in an area with little low-cost housing.
Using archival footage with Edward R. Murrow from "Harvest of Shame," this documentary shows that the living conditions of contemporary migrants are worse than those which shook Americans in 1960 when CBS first broadcast Murrow's documentary.
Interviews with camp residents, disgruntled homeowners, area politicians, and sympathetic supporters, make it evident that this is a frustrating, no win situation on all fronts. The laborers, many newly legalized under the 1986 immigration law, are drawn to North San Diego County because of the availability of jobs in the wealthy, developed area. The homeowners who employ them as gardeners, housekeepers, and construction workers want them to dissapear when their day's work is done.
The documentary reveals the migrants' difficult life in the camp as well as their attempts to create a normal community life. Guadalupe Mojica, a resourceful resident who runs the camp's restaurant and favorite meeting spot, and Rafael Martinez, a retired Presbyterian minister who frequently visits to counsel the workers and provide whatever assistance he can, are profiled.
"Uneasy Neighbors" is a production of KPBS Television. Paul Espinosa is producer, director, and writer. Editor is Philip Doucet.