 Although immigration from the South is a major issue around the country, in most parts of the US, American’s tend to think of those immigrants as coming from Mexico, speaking Spanish and eating burritos. While most come through Mexico, many come from Central and South America. Of those who are Mexican, a sizeable number are indigenous [at least 1 in 10 Mexicans is indigenous], often illegal and do not speak Spanish. The Pew Hispanic Center found in its recent study that Mexican immigration to the US has fallen to its lowest number in a decade. Neither the US nor Mexico keeps records on indigenous migration to the US, so it is unclear what the decline has meant for indigenous migration from Mexico.
Odilia Romero, has been the Binational Women’s Issues Coordinator of the Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales (FIOB) for the past six years. She has worked with indigenous Mexican organizations in Los Angeles for more than a decade and is the Project Coordinator for the Institute of Social Change Across Borders, at the UCLA Center for the Study of Urban Poverty.
Please tell us a little about your background and about the work you do.
I’m an indigenous Zapotec from a place called Zoogocho. It’s in the Northern highlands of the state of Oaxaca. I came to the United States when I was 11. I was monolingual. I only spoke Zapoteco at that time. I knew there was something different about me or about the people that I was surrounded by because we couldn’t communicate. They spoke Spanish and I spoke Zapoteco only. People began to make fun of us and call us names or mumble, pretending to speak the same language as we spoke. We were like the ugly ducklings of the building we were living in, in Pico Union, in Los Angeles. So, as I continued to grow up I ended up in a Spanish/English speaking class. I somehow learned English and Spanish but I noticed that a lot of the stories my Mom would tell me when she would come back home, or my Dad, were about the discrimination they were going through as indigenous people in the broader workforce here in Los Angeles. So eventually, I would try to get involved with different organizations and different things that advocated for immigrants’ rights. As far as indigenous rights, there was no one until I began to read about the Binational Indigenous Front of Organizations, the Frente. That’s where I felt comfortable because I needed to be part of this change toward indigenous peoples’ rights. So that’s how I began my work, because of my own experience as an indigenous woman in the States—as an indigenous person and as an indigenous woman. That’s how I got involved with working for the human rights of indigenous people.
What is FIOB?
The Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales is a binational organization based in Oaxaca, Baja California Norte and the state of California. We do a lot of the advocacy work for the human rights of indigenous people. We have a sister organization that carries out projects for reproductive health and interpreter services. As indigenous people began to migrate to the US, we needed to have certified interpreters, so that’s an important service we provide. We do a lot of work in what we call “decolonizing our indigenous minds.” It is one of our programs where we basically teach and learn our history as indigenous people. We go through and learn the different levels of oppression that exist, that put us at this historical disadvantage as a people.
Can you tell us a little about the indigenous migrants who come from Mexico? What are their traditional jobs?
In Mexico, currently, there are 62 indigenous languages and about 62 groups. [Mexican] government statistics say there are about 12 to 14 million indigenous people living in Mexico, which makes it the largest indigenous population of the Americas. But of course, these are very low numbers, because you are only considered indigenous if you are born in what the government considers an indigenous village, if you are 5 years and older and speak your language. If you’re 4 and you don’t speak your language, then they don’t count you as an indigenous person. Those of us who are here in the States, we are not considered. The majority of people come to us from the indigenous states of Oaxaca, Chiapas and Guerrero. The people we work with are the Purhépechas from Michoacán, Mixtecos de Guerrero, Mixtecos de Puebla and Mixtecos from Oaxaca, the Triquis, Chinantecos and Zapotecs. Their traditional jobs are mainly agriculture for self-consumption and a lot of arts and crafts.
Have these groups been moving into urban centers in Mexico and then to the US or are they coming directly from their native places?
There was a route they called the “Ruta Mixteca” where they would come from the Mixteca region, go to Veracruz, go to Sinaloa, San Quintín and then to California—that was for these particular groups that are the Mixtecos. Then there are the Zapotecs who migrate to the urban areas like Oaxaca City, Mexico City, and Los Angeles—these are the main urban areas where they are.
How many indigenous people are living in the US? And Where?
There are indigenous people in TX, FL, AR, NC, and OR, but mainly they are in CA. We have migrated everywhere. I don’t want to put a number. It’s a large population. I don’t use a number because of the way the census is structured in Mexico, that unless your 5 years and older, you speak the language then you’re counted. There is no way to have an exact number and, in fact, we’re not included in the census here either. I wouldn’t want to risk putting out a number on our population.
Do they do the same work here or do they do different work in the US?
It depends on the group. A lot of indigenous people from Michoacan and Oaxaca, the Mixtecos, work in the agricultural field. The Zapotecs work mainly in the urban cities, restaurants, hotels, in the service areas. It depends what group you’re talking about. Because again then, the fact that we’re indigenous means that we’re quite diverse. Zapotecos do not understand Mixtecos. We don’t understand the Purhépecha population either. It’s a really diverse group.
Have Indigenous Mexicans found community with other Mexicans who come as migrants?
It’s been really harsh for indigenous people to interact with other Mexicans, first, because of the language barrier. Then, also because of the discrimination and racism that indigenous people suffer from other Mexicans.
The Pew Hispanic Center has just released a study stating that Mexican immigration to the US has fallen by about 60% from the previous year. Do you think that coincides with indigenous peoples’ migration patterns? Have their number also been falling?
As far as the migration of indigenous people, we see, because of our Interpreters Program, that it has increased. People call and ask us for different languages that we never heard 3 or 5 years ago, like languages from Chiapas and from Veracruz. They used to request mainly indigenous languages from Oaxaca but now it’s from other places too.
So you think the general trend of indigenous people migrating from Mexico is increasing?
Yes. Yes, I definitely see it. Like I said, I get calls personally from the ports and hospitals requesting other languages besides Oaxacan languages, from Chiapas, from Veracruz— communities that you haven’t heard of migrating to the States before.
Have NAFTA and other US policies played a role in encouraging indigenous peoples to migrate to the US? Are there other domestic factors?
Definitely, the impact of US policies is global. In the case of indigenous peoples in Mexico, it has had a great impact. Since NAFTA, the migration has increased among indigenous peoples in the way that implementation of the Merida Initiative [a $1.4 billion US, counternarcotics package that armed the same police and military forces that violently put down a nonviolent teachers’ uprising in Oaxaca in 2006] is forcing people to get out of Oaxaca or to get out of indigenous places. The privatization of natural resources, the external debt caused by the WTO and IMF, all those national and international policies do affect us. And, of course, that affects our migration. We can definitely see it.
I’m assuming most indigenous people who come here are coming illegally. Is that correct?
Definitely, most people come to the States illegally.
What are the unique issues they deal with as migrants, given that Americans tend to see all Mexicans as Spanish speakers? How do they determine where they are going? Are there support systems for them once they get here?
One of the challenges, as you say, for indigenous people is the language barrier. The cultural differences for indigenous people are greater than for the broader Mexican population too. But also there is discrimination against indigenous people by other Mexicans, by other people from Central American and South America. It’s like a double, triple layer of discrimination and racism that indigenous people face.
We have our own hometown associations with which we support each other, for example, if someone dies. If we work in one place, we try to get another person in, so there is some type of support system. We pretty much maintain and are in our own little world in the case of Los Angeles. In LA, it’s quite diverse, but it’s not diverse enough to accept indigenous people.
In what context does that discrimination by other Mexicans happen?
It happens in workplaces, in schools, in housing—everywhere you go. It’s most of the time. I usually wear my indigenous clothes and people stop me in the street. People literally come up to me or stop traffic to ask me if I’m indigenous or not. I go through this two or three times a week, wearing indigenous clothes. It happens.
What information is known about indigenous peoples’ dealings with US immigration and Customs? Deportations, etc?
With the US judicial system, it’s been an uphill battle as far as informing and educating the people that work within this system to understand that there are other Mexicans in Mexico that do not speak Spanish and that there are 62 indigenous languages. The Frente has a campaign of what we call ‘cultural awareness training,’ where we talk about indigenous immigration, the process of migration, language barriers, cultural differences and judicial differences. It’s an ongoing effort. They consider us all the same.
You created another organization called the APPO. What was that?
The Los Angeles office of the Frente, in the 2006 conflict in Oaxaca, created, in solidarity with the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO), a local APPO. During that moment, people that were not indigenous wanted to be part of that movement, so we created the APPO for that time, for about a year. Then we went back to being the Frente.
Do you feel that working as a binational organization has given you the room and authority to assert a more confident indigenous voice?
Mexicans begin to notice that there are indigenous people here and some of them wander in. They come and say, “hey, how can we help?” or “can you speak to us because we don’t know about you,” but we are also creating self-esteem for our people. Here we are. We are struggling. There are barriers but we are definitely struggling in continuity, as a way to vindicate our culture, our language, our customs.
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