Running head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 1

Annotated Bibliography:

Colonias Poverty within UTEP

Taylor Toronto

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301

Dr. Vierra

October 23, 2018

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 2

Research Questions

1. What affects, both physically and mentally, does living in colonias have on people?

2. What characteristics are unique to Texas colonias?

3. What is the likelihood of people living in colonias to further their education?

4. How are students of all grade levels (both college and grade school) affected by

colonias?

5. Has UTEP been involved with colonias in El Paso?

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 3

Annotated Bibliography

Miera, N. (2008). Health related quality of life among Mexican Americans living in colonias at

the Texas-Mexico border. In Social Science and Medicine. Retrieved from

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795360700665X

According to Miera (2008), the study they conducted showed that the mental health of

those living in colonias are the same as the national average. On the other hand, they

discovered that the overall physical health was quite worse than the rest of the nation (p.

2). Other results were that the majority of those who received little to no education are

the women, who also reported that they had the greatest lack of health insurance and the

greatest stability in the Colonia, meaning they have been there for a minimum of 10

years. The participants had also been identified with 3 or more chronic conditions,

however, smoking and drinking were not apparent in the results (p 20).

Schmidt, CW. (2000). Boarding on environmental disaster. In Environmental health

perspectives. Retrieved from

http://0search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edswsc&AN=0000

88529700019&site=eds-live&scope=site

According to Schmidt (2000), the living condition in colonias along the Mexico-Texas

border are causing severe illnesses for those who live there. This is due to the fact that

only 34% of wastewater in Juarez is treated, causing raw sewage to contaminate the

drinking water for residents on both sides of the border. There are parasites and other

diseases in this water that causes those who drink it to develop gastrointestinal disease,

which has become the leading cause of infant death along the border (p. 2). Mexico and

the United States have attempted to improve this situation by spending $3.1 billion since
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 4

1994. 80% of the $3.1 billion is from the United States channeled from the EPA. It is

estimated that in order to satisfy the needs for clean water and solid waste disposal is an

additional $3.2 billion (p 6).

Ramos, I. (2008). Immigrant minority health. Retrieved from

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10903-007-9087-1

According to Ramos (2008), in the Cameron Park Colonia, individual education

programs have begun to tackle the issues in the Colonia. They have created the ‘train the

trainer’ program, in attempts to spread knowledge about environmental health and access

to more educational programs (p 7). The severe living conditions in Texas colonias has

finally been recognized by the surrounding communities. Colonias in the past have often

neglected by the government and communities around them because they are eye sores.

Colonias are treated like the homeless man standing at the intersection with the sign

reading “anything helps, God bless.” Instead of helping, or let alone acknowledging the

homeless person, people pretend they aren’t there by looking the other way. People

ignore the colonias all over the Texas- Mexico border; if they don’t acknowledge the

problems they might just go away.

Goetz, E. (2018). “Introduction.” In The one-way street of integration: Fair housing and the

pursuit of racial justice in American cities. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.

According to Goetz (2018), the disparities of living arrangements between the minority

races and the white population must change by using the fair housing integrations (p. 2).

The issues that spurred this argument is the claim that the relationship between

segregation and affording housing are directly correlated. Whenever there is an attempt to

create affordable housing in the nicer, ‘white’, parts of town, those living in that desired
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community fight to prevent that eyesore from being built. They use arguments like, the

crime rates will increase, there is not enough parking, or this is not a suitable place for

children. The final decision of the potential housing development always goes in favor of

those with more power, causing the minorities to only be able to afford housing in the

low income, lesser parts of town furthering the divide between the races (p. 5). In

response to this, in 2012 the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundation argued to

bridge the gap between priority housing, provide sustaining living conditions needed for

all communities and providing a segue for the integration of communities. They

developed 3 principles in order to achieve this, the first is “giving families a choice,”

meaning improving the living conditions in the lower income communities or facilitating

the ability to move to a nicer neighborhood. The second principle is “balancing housing

investment priorities,” which relates to the unfair distribution of governmental funds

intended to provide adequate living conditions for all communities. Lastly, “incentivizing

affordable housing in higher opportunity areas,” which entails no outrageous rent to keep

unwanted people out (p. 7).

Momeni, J. (1986). “Introduction.” In Momeni, J. Race, ethnicity, and minority housing in the

United States. (pp. xxi-xxv). Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, Inc.

According to Momeni (1986), despite the 1949 Housing Act, intended to improve the

living. conditions in the lower-class communities by budgeting $31 billion into the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development, adequate living conditions for all

citizens still does not exist (pp. xxiii-xxiv). Momeni states that in 1980 an overwhelming

66.3% of the renters in America who receive $5,000 or less spend more than half of their

annual salary on rent alone. Those who have an income of $25,000 or greater spent
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nowhere near the same amount on their housing costs (p. i). This disproportion of salaries

and economic opportunities results in those who can afford humane living conditions and

those who cannot.

Kivisto, P. (1986). “A historical review of changes in public housing policies and their impacts

on minorities.” In Momeni, J. Race, ethnicity, and minority housing in the United States.

(pp. 1-18). Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, Inc.

Kivisto (1986), argues that the largest set back was caused by the government provided

housing. This is because of their remote locations deprives them from being submerged

in the nearby communities and making a social presence. The majority of residents in

state provided housing, other than those in assisted living centers, are minorities (p. 2).

These housing developments were purposely built outside of the surrounding middleclass

communities, allowing their restricted economical gain by limiting their exposer to

needed opportunities (p. 7). The government also wanted to avoid “racial tipping,”

creating the rule that 50% of the residents in the state provided housing needed to be

white, despite the overwhelming majority needing the housing were the minority races (p.

12).

Abt, P. (September 22, 2017). There’s a third-world America that no one notices. In the

Washington post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/theres-a-

third-world-america-that-no-one-notices/2017/11/21/640c4c1a-c499-11e7-aae0-

cb18a8c29c65_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.5f2c33c7861a

Abt (2017) claims that the people who reside in the communities along the Texas-Mexico

border live in third world country conditions within a first world country. The people

who live in these districts, called colonias, have dealt with the lack of access to running
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water, electricity and sewage treatment for far too long. These families have to live on

$250 or less a week and are forced to live in homes that do not meet safety codes (p. 1).

The makeshift sheds they call home usually have dirt floors and are often built by the

inhabitants themselves using whatever scrap material they can find. It is a common

misconception that these communities are solely made up of illegal immigrants; in

reality, the residents are documented American citizens. These people are law-abiding tax

payers who do not reap the benefits from those taxes that the rest of the American

population receives (p. 2). The land where colonias form are inexpensive because of the

constant and severe flooding that occurs. The floods restrict the ability for children to get

to school and increase the disease rates caused by spread of contaminated water. Diseases

that are rare in the rest of America are common in colonias, including: tuberculosis,

typhoid, dysentery and many other deadly diseases (p. 3). Governmental efforts to

improve colonias only occur when there is hard evidence that the living conditions are

what caused the adverse effects. For example, Cyndie Park II residents were drinking

well water containing arsenic because the county failed to inform them. After the

outbreak of cancer in Cyndie Park II, the government then provided city water pipes, but

it was already too late (pp. 3-4). Texas has 90% of the country’s colonias and they only

receive either state or federal government aid when the media starts to expose the terrible

living conditions. Once people stop discussing the seriousness of colonias, the

government abandons these desperate families. Abt argues that instead of providing

governmental aid to American territories like Puerto Rico, the government needs to fix

the third world conditions within the continental United States (pp. 4-5).
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Roman, M. “One project at a time.” The prospector 17 Apr. 2018: (p. 1).

DigitalCommons@UTEP. Oct. 2018. Retrieved from

https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1317&context=prospector

According to Roman (2018), UTEP organizations came together to provide a Colonia

named Las Pampas located in a small town of Presidio, Texas where there are less than

four thousand residents. All of the years leading up to 2016, Las Pampas residents lived

with no access to piped water. Now, residents no longer need to collect water from ten

miles away to bring back to their homes due to the rainwater harvesting system emplaced

by UTEP student organizations. The student groups reached out to Engineers for a

Sustainable World (ESW) to speed up this project. Working alongside ESW, UTEP

students were able to construct, not one, but two rainwater harvesting systems for the

residents of Las Pampas in 2017. It is estimated that these water systems will decrease the

amount of water that needs to be carried from an outside source by 50%. Furthermore,

the residents will be able to save a needed $15 to $20 per month that originally would

have spent on retrieving water. Additionally, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. in El Paso

contributed free water tanks to the UTEP groups to help their cause. This was a game

changer for the residents because it allowed them to collect 2,200 gallons of water. This

project was mostly paid by a grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and

Agriculture. Jesus Placencia, a UTEP master’s degree graduate, who is the research

assistant for the Center of Environmental Resource Management (CERM), collaborated

efforts with the UTEP organizations (p.1).

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Martinez, A. “Two more miners lost to violence.” The prospector 9 Nov. 2010: (p. 2).

DigitalCommons@UTEP. Oct. 2018. Retrieved from

https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=prospector

According to Martinez (2010), since 2008, north of 7,000 people have been murdered

within 30 miles of the UTEP campus. On the evening of November 2nd, 2010, two UTEP

students were shot and killed in the Colonia Rincones de Santa Rita. The students were

murdered were Manuel Acosta Villablobos who was 22 years old and only a semester

away from obtaining his bachelor’s degree. The other student was Eder Diaz Sotero, a

23-year-old sophomore who just recently transferred to UTEP. These two young bright

men where simply at the wrong place and the wrong time. These two students were not

the only ones whose life was cut short. Alejandro Ruiz Salazar and Jorge Pedro Gonzalez

were killed on their way back to campus from Villa Ahumada on May 25, 2010. These

deaths are due to the drug war on both sides of the border. With many students who

commute every day from Juárez, they are constantly subjugated to cross through turf

wars of the cartels putting them in immense danger (p. 2). These high poverty areas are

known to be dangerous, however, most UTEP students do not have the choice on entering

them and causing a relentless threat on their lives just trying to get to school.

Valle, K. “Living on the edge.” The prospector 5 Sept. 2014: (p. 23). DigitalCommons@UTEP.

Oct. 2018. Retrieved from

https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1193&context=prospector

According to Valle (2014), Damaris Reyes, an undergraduate student at UTEP, lives in a

Colonia called Hueco Tanks located an hour away from the El Paso city limits. Damaris

says that her small community, where she has lived with her parents for the past 17 years,
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has very limited access to running water. This causes Damaris and her family to monitor

their daily water use very closely; on a few occasions, they did not keep track of the

amount left leaving them without water from three days. Other than the fact that Hueco

Tanks is not in the El Paso city limits, there is also not enough residents to require the

state to provide them with city water. Timothy Collins, a sociology and anthropology

professor, claims that in order for Hueco Tanks to receive water pipes, it must evaluate

whether it is worth the expenses. Meaning that if it costs more to construct the pipes than

what would be received from the residents there is no economical value. The city of El

Paso claims that the situation in Herco Tanks is an unfortunate situation, but they cannot

do anything about the situation since it is out of the city limits (p. 23).

Marquez-Velarde, G. (12 March 2015). Mental health disparities among low-income US

Hispanic residents of a US-Mexico border Colonia. In Journal of racial and ethnic

disparities. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs40615-015-

0091-1#citeas

Marquez-Velarde (2015), is evaluating the relationship of mental health outcomes and the

access to treatments of those low economical class of people living in colonias (p.1).

Results from the survey answers from every ninth home in Westway in terms of mental

illness are that one third of the residents living in colonias are diagnosed with depression

and one fourth have been diagnosed with anxiety (pp. 4 and 16). In comparison to all of

Texas residents’ depression rates, the rates in Westway were three times higher. Those

who were diagnosed in Westway, 77% of them are receiving treatment, however only

46% of these participants have health care. The main health care service that is visited by

Westway residents is the La Fe Clinic, which is a non-profit organization with the main
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purpose of providing health care to the low income, uninsured people of El Paso (p. 13).

There are several other severe issues in colonias along the Texas-Mexico border,

however the mental disorders developed by these residents is ignored and overlooked by

policy makers. The development of mental illnesses can lead to further physical issues

and economic decline. The results from this survey supports the argument that these

communities need more access to mental health care services (p. 17).

Wallisch, L. & Spence, R. (May 1, 2006). Alcohol and drug use, abuse, and dependence in urban

areas and colonias of the Texas-Mexico border. In the Hispanic journal of behavioral

science. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0739986305286137

According to Wallisch and Spence (2006), the abuse of drugs and alcohol in the low

economic areas of Texas, such as colonias in El Paso, are higher than the rest of the

communities of Texas. The study conducted by Wallisch and Spence concluded that the

presence of alcohol and drugs in these colonias are the similar to the presence in all other

areas in Texas, but the rates of abuse of these substances are higher in colonias (p. 1). The

colonias overall showed that binge drinking is higher than the urbanized surrounding

areas. In addition, the lifetime use of hallucinogens is highest in El Paso colonias. The

reasons for this can be due to the apparent drug trafficking in these areas (pp. 300-303).