By Kiara Santos, 2PuntosPlatform<\/p>\n
At the height of mass cross-border migration late in the 20th century, immigrants, particularly Mexicans, settled well beyond the popular destinations of America\u2019s Sun Belt. They went to places with no significant history of immigrant settlement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Philadelphia became an attractive destination for many new migrants as a sanctuary city<\/a>. Over time, Mexicans\u2019 experiences of migration and settlement in Philadelphia expanded into the city\u2019s suburbs, including Norristown.<\/p>\n Latine residents are now close to 40% of Norristown\u2019s population, and within decades will be a majority of local public school students. A 2022 Axios report<\/a> found that immigrants in the U.S. have been gravitating toward suburban communities outside Philadelphia, including Montgomery County, to find affordable housing and support growing businesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n Money initially motivated the immigrants’ push toward smaller cities, where housing, jobs and education are more accessible than in the metropolis.<\/p>\n A byproduct of that trend is that the media change their tone when Latino immigrants settle in, says Jennifer Rodriguez<\/a>, CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Her business organization supports Latino entrepreneurs through workshops, robust resources that help start-ups, and a community network.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe most rewarding part of my job is seeing what we always say: that this country is a nation built by immigrants,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n \u201cImmigrants, particularly in Philadelphia, have taken and have invested in locations that were seen as not having a lot of opportunity, as not being desirable places to be necessarily,\u201d Rodriguez continued. \u201cAnd really seeing the promise of these places, and revitalizing them to the point that these are desirable communities now.\u201d<\/p>\n When Canada, Mexico and the United States approved NAFTA \u2014 the North American Free Trade Agreement \u2014 in 1994, many Mexicans were suffering because a slumping national economy was cutting into incomes for average workers. Many Mexicans left home, particularly in rural regions such as Puebla, and came to the United States in large numbers, aiming to establish their own wealth in the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n Their relatively low wages boosted the middle and upper classes through their labor, and migrants began to revitalize blighted neighborhoods, taking over from proprietors who had left the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n The post-NAFTA migration brought migrants to Philadelphia suburbs, with the largest number arriving in Norristown.\u00a0<\/p>\n In his 2022 book, \u201cThe Sanctuary City: Immigrant, Refugee, and Receiving Communities in Postindustrial Philadelphia<\/a>,\u201d Domenic Vitiello tells an origin story: An Italian-American man went to Acapulco on vacation, fell in love with a woman, and brought her back with him to Norristown. She then invited her friends and family to town, creating a snowball effect of people coming to the community for work.\u00a0<\/p>\n The consulate steps up<\/strong><\/p>\n By 2000, the U.S. Census reported that about 3,000 people of Latin American origin \u2014 mostly Mexicans, but also Puerto Ricans \u2014 lived in Norristown. By 2010, the number had risen to 10,000. The Mexican arrivals reversed the population loss the town had experienced since the 1970s, when factories and mills left.<\/p>\n However, many migrants had to pay coyotes \u2014 human smugglers \u2014 to bring them across the Mexican-American border and did not have legal documentation to work, reside or learn in America. The Consulate of Mexico began to adapt to the city\u2019s progressive sanctuary city laws<\/a> by providing many arrivals with various forms of documentation, resources for education, finance, and language accessibility needs, among others.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is very important to us to provide support to the Mexican community,\u201d said Carlos G. Obrador Garrido Cuesta, the head consul of the Consulate of Mexico in Philadelphia<\/a>. \u201cWe do this across several areas: immigration, human rights, criminal law, family law, labor law, and administrative matters. This forms the core of our work.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe also provide consular services \u2014 specifically documentation \u2014 such as issuing Mexican passports and consular ID cards. We also handle civil registry services; for instance, Mexican nationals whose children were born here can bring them to the consulate to register them as children of Mexican nationals, thereby obtaining dual nationality,\u201d the head consul said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut, we also specifically serve the most vulnerable members of our community: undocumented individuals. While the number of undocumented people from Mexico is decreasing, estimates suggest there are around 4 million of them across the United States. Here in our area, I would say there are fewer than 100,000. Regardless, it is a very important \u2014 fundamental \u2014 undertaking.\u201d<\/p>\n A division of the consulate, the Department of Communities, works closely with the immigrant community.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the Department of Communities, we have three areas we focus on: health, education and finance,” said Tamara Contreras, the consulate\u2019s community manager. \u201cIn these three areas, we seek out organizations that provide services to the community in Spanish and offer them workshops and talks; we also organize bilingual weeks where institutions come to offer services and inform the community about what they are doing for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Laying the groundwork<\/strong><\/p>\n Much like Norristown, Philadelphia\u2019s Mexican population, dubbed \u201cPuebladelphia,\u201d has taken the once-blighted Italian Market<\/a> on 9th Street and created a home for itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n The story goes that Efren Tellez, a farmer from San Mateo Ozolco, came to the States in 1995 and settled in Camden, New Jersey. He walked aimlessly across the Ben Franklin Bridge and stumbled upon a restaurant sign: \u201cTequilas Restaurant.” David Suro owned the upscale Mexican restaurant and gave Tellez a job as a dishwasher.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tellez moved to a cheap room in South Philadelphia and began to encourage his friends to join him. By 2005, thousands of immigrants had settled in Philadelphia. The first arrivals were mostly men of working age, including some teenagers. They often lived together in large numbers so they could save money to send back home, and traveled frequently between their native home and their new home to help bring their family and settle more permanently.<\/p>\n That trend echoed the communal resilience and development of Italian immigrants in the area a century before \u2014 and, ironically, the same flag colors.\u00a0<\/p>\n In that way, Mexicans helped lay the groundwork for other Latin American immigrants to settle in and around Philadelphia \u2014 and to combat the racism the community faces as fear of deportation<\/a> rises in President Donald Trump\u2019s second term.\u00a0<\/p>\n Businesses thrive and provide groceries, restaurants, law firms, murals, cafes and much more. Walk across the Bella Vista corridor, and it\u2019s impossible to miss the vibrancy and camaraderie.<\/p>\n \u201cOur community is incredibly resilient,\u201d said the Consul. \u201cThe strength of migrants moves mountains. We are a community that adapts and knows how to forge ahead despite any challenge or difficult situation. We are the people who get the job done.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n This article, produced by 2Puntos<\/a> in collaboration with Metro Philadelphia<\/a>, is part of a 10\u2011part series exploring two of Pennsylvania\u2019s most diverse areas \u2014 South Philadelphia and Norristown \u2014 both home to vibrant and growing Latino communities. The series will be published across both outlets monthly.\u00a0<\/p>\n