Duroville

Duroville is the nickname for the Desert Mobile Home Park near Thermal, California USA.

The park, which sits on the Torres Martinez Indian Reservation, is nicknamed for owner Harvey Duro, Sr., a member of the tribal council.

It is populated by between 2000 and 6000 migrant Mexican farm workers who live in near-squalor within the park's 40 acres (16 ha). The condition of the park, with its unsafe trailers, dangerous electrical wiring, faulty septic systems and predatory packs of wild dogs, has been the subject of national attention in recent years.^[1] An estimated 65% of residents are P'urhépecha.^[2]

Litigation brought by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to have the park closed and its residents relocated was refused on May 1, 2009. The federal judge who heard the case ruled for benefit of the tenants, claiming that relocating them "would create one of the largest forced migrations in the history of this state." He went on to compare the resulting migration to Japanese-American relocations to Manzanar after the United States' entry into World War II.^[3]

References

1. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/us/21land.html 2007 story about Duroville in the New York Times
2. ^ Kelly, David (2010-06-05). "Illegal Duroville enclave grows into a community". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-duroville-20100605,0,3290685,full.story. Retrieved 6 June 2010. 
3. ^ http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-duroville1-2009may01,0,2068462.story 2009 Los Angeles Times story regarding the federal ruling

External links

• Location: 33°33′10″N 116°06′37″W / 33.552652°N 116.110307°W / 33.552652; -116.110307