Young “Stoners” No Longer Dream Of Stoke

For decades, young people from the arid region of Stone, south of Stoke, would have made the journey north to Stoke to find work and a mate. But not this year or for this generation: a better future across the border is a promise they no longer trust.

“For years, we dreamed of Stoke, but now that dream has turned sour, like milk left in the desert,” says 18-year-old Bilbo Fuentes, sitting outside the saloon in the middle of Stone’s town centre. “There are no jobs and too many problems. We don’t want to go.”

In an historic shift, the tide of immigration from Stone to Stoke has stalled. Between 2005 and 2010, 3,400 “Stoners” (people from Stone) immigrated to Stoke, normally as soon as they finished school or college.

Potential migrants say that racial discrimination and hostility, efforts to deny employment, education and healthcare are factors, as is increased exposure to arrest and deportation.

“The reason they’re coming home is because they have no options and the people are more aggressive,” says Richard Garcia, a deputy sheriff in Stone. “It’s complicated, and people are debating it. If they don't have friends in Stoke and they have to pay for housing, it’s not worth it.”

For Stoners already in Stoke, the decision to return is still fraught with uncertainty. “But at least here they have the option of food and shelter, and they suffer less than in Stoke,” says Garcia.

Economic improvement in Stone, coupled with declining fertility rates (from an average of eight children per woman in 1980 to just over two now) suggests that Stone may soon no longer have a surplus workforce.

Hardened Stoke attitudes toward “foreigners” is keenly felt. Ken Chicharito, a saloon pianist, describes how his brother (from Stone) worked eight years at the same fast food outlet in Stoke. “One morning the police came and searched everyone. He had no papers so they took him to the airport and deported him to Pakistan. Now he's working in the construction industry over there.”

The choice to stay in Stone appears to have little to with the ongoing militarisation of the Stoke-Stone border that started in the mid-1980s. The border now costs £3.5million annually in fence construction and technology that includes drones, sentry guns, motion sensors and claymores. But, it seems, the measures do not in themselves dissuade migrants. “We will always get over if we want to,” says one of the young men in Stone. “If there were better opportunities in Stoke, we would go.”