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LovelandPolitics
| Loveland's Independent News Source |
Loveland - September 22, 2013
(UPDATE OCT 2, 2013 - The Coloradoan reports Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith
turned away nine mini vans he described carrying "European Gypsies" from
Highway 34 attempting to access evacuated areas. see story)
Gypsies seeking pocket change from the public is a common sight in the large cities of Western Europe
including Madrid, Paris and London as borders have opened within the European Union. However, the
recent appearance of what appear to be Gypsies begging for money along with their young children up
and down the Front Range is a new phenomena.
From Longmont to Ft. Collins adults with children ranging in ages from infants to teenagers have been
strategically deployed with signs typically reading, "Lost Job and Home Need Any Money" during the
past week. Often a mother with two or three children cover a parking lot exit and entrance or church
entrance for two to three hours before moving to a new location nearby.
In Longmont, a woman in her 40's held a sign asking for money while two younger teenage boys patiently
stood by her side in the WalMart parking lot along 287 last week. Today, a group appearing like a family
of one man a woman and three children approached people entering St. Joseph Catholic Church on
Mountain Ave. in Ft. Collins before and after the 11:30 AM Mass. Another group of two adults and four
children ranging in ages from approximately five to seventeen greeted traffic with similar signs about lost
work and desperation near the parking lot of Outback Steakhouse along Harmony Road in Ft. Collins.
Similar groups have been spotted in Boulder and Berthoud over the past five days.
The group in Ft. Collins only identified themselves as being from the tiny Eastern European nation of
"Moldova." The adult male claimed he is without a green card to find employment in the United States
therefore begging to get money for food and shelter for his family. Other groups will not confirm nor deny
whether they are "Romani" using broken English while providing what sound like highly scripted
responses. Their clothing is similar to that worn by the Romani people (also called the Roma) who come
mostly from Romania and Moldova and areas within the former Soviet Union. The woman in Longmont with
two boys held a sign claiming to be a victim of the recent floods.
Mistaken by some Coloradoans as South American or Peruvian due to the women's head scarfs and
colorful clothing, their attire and ethnicity betray them as Romany. The origin of this particular group is
unclear. Whether they were indeed victims of the floods and lost some illegal employment in a mountain
town is one theory but another is they found Colorado a profitable location for panhandling. Last year
European Gypsies were found begging in various cities along the East Coast in coordinated efforts where
a large group would descend on several smaller cities all at once.
One thing is clear, the appearance of Eastern Europeans who appear to be Gypsies in various Front
Range communities begging in small groups is likely a coordinated and not coincidental event. This
being the case, anyone offering them assistance or a place to stay in their home could be putting
themselves at risk. It is especially unusual to see anyone in the United States begging with children due
to the likely intervention of child welfare organizations funded by local governments.
It is also unlikely they have all suddenly lost employment and housing but certainly not out of the question.
LovelandPolitics has been unable to find evidence of local governments investigating the child welfare
issues or truancy law violations by the parents accompanying school age children during the week to beg
in public. Given the federal government's recent decision not to enforce immigration laws it is unlikely they
could or would be detained if in the country illegally.
Please send us any pictures you may have taken of the Romani people in the Front Range or information
they provide you regarding their place of origin or identity of the employer they claim recently terminated
their employment. This may help us try and fill in the pieces in this puzzle.
Because these families are panhandling it is difficult to discover whether they are in the country illegally or
under some legal refugee resettlement program. It doesn't appear as though they are destitute as
someone is transporting them around the Front Range in vehicles and they don't appear to be homeless
as they appear only during peak shopping hours near shopping centers and in front of churches during
Sunday services.
(UPDATE OCT 2, 2013 - The Coloradoan reports Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith
turned away nine mini vans he described carrying "European Gypsies" from
Highway 34 attempting to access evacuated areas. see story)
Gypsies seeking pocket change from the public is a common sight in the large cities of Western Europe
including Madrid, Paris and London as borders have opened within the European Union. However, the
recent appearance of what appear to be Gypsies begging for money along with their young children up
and down the Front Range is a new phenomena.
From Longmont to Ft. Collins adults with children ranging in ages from infants to teenagers have been
strategically deployed with signs typically reading, "Lost Job and Home Need Any Money" during the
past week. Often a mother with two or three children cover a parking lot exit and entrance or church
entrance for two to three hours before moving to a new location nearby.
In Longmont, a woman in her 40's held a sign asking for money while two younger teenage boys patiently
stood by her side in the WalMart parking lot along 287 last week. Today, a group appearing like a family
of one man a woman and three children approached people entering St. Joseph Catholic Church on
Mountain Ave. in Ft. Collins before and after the 11:30 AM Mass. Another group of two adults and four
children ranging in ages from approximately five to seventeen greeted traffic with similar signs about lost
work and desperation near the parking lot of Outback Steakhouse along Harmony Road in Ft. Collins.
Similar groups have been spotted in Boulder and Berthoud over the past five days.
The group in Ft. Collins only identified themselves as being from the tiny Eastern European nation of
"Moldova." The adult male claimed he is without a green card to find employment in the United States
therefore begging to get money for food and shelter for his family. Other groups will not confirm nor deny
whether they are "Romani" using broken English while providing what sound like highly scripted
responses. Their clothing is similar to that worn by the Romani people (also called the Roma) who come
mostly from Romania and Moldova and areas within the former Soviet Union. The woman in Longmont with
two boys held a sign claiming to be a victim of the recent floods.
Mistaken by some Coloradoans as South American or Peruvian due to the women's head scarfs and
colorful clothing, their attire and ethnicity betray them as Romany. The origin of this particular group is
unclear. Whether they were indeed victims of the floods and lost some illegal employment in a mountain
town is one theory but another is they found Colorado a profitable location for panhandling. Last year
European Gypsies were found begging in various cities along the East Coast in coordinated efforts where
a large group would descend on several smaller cities all at once.
One thing is clear, the appearance of Eastern Europeans who appear to be Gypsies in various Front
Range communities begging in small groups is likely a coordinated and not coincidental event. This
being the case, anyone offering them assistance or a place to stay in their home could be putting
themselves at risk. It is especially unusual to see anyone in the United States begging with children due
to the likely intervention of child welfare organizations funded by local governments.
It is also unlikely they have all suddenly lost employment and housing but certainly not out of the question.
LovelandPolitics has been unable to find evidence of local governments investigating the child welfare
issues or truancy law violations by the parents accompanying school age children during the week to beg
in public. Given the federal government's recent decision not to enforce immigration laws it is unlikely they
could or would be detained if in the country illegally.
Please send us any pictures you may have taken of the Romani people in the Front Range or information
they provide you regarding their place of origin or identity of the employer they claim recently terminated
their employment. This may help us try and fill in the pieces in this puzzle.
Because these families are panhandling it is difficult to discover whether they are in the country illegally or
under some legal refugee resettlement program. It doesn't appear as though they are destitute as
someone is transporting them around the Front Range in vehicles and they don't appear to be homeless
as they appear only during peak shopping hours near shopping centers and in front of churches during
Sunday services.
| Gypsies Along the Front Range |
| Origin of Gypsies The wandering people known throughout Europe as "Gypsies' arrived in the Balkans during Medieval times. Gypsies call themselves "Romany" and were labelled Gypsies by those who believed they came originally from Egypt (Gypsy being an adaptation of the word for Egyptian in numerous European languages). In fact, the Gypsies of Europe are of Indian origin and have a language closest to the ancient form of Gujarati from Gujarat in India. Over the centuries the Romany people travelled throughout Europe and adopted various traditions and cultures in their adopted countries while always maintaining a unique culture of their own. The vast diaspora of Romany throughout Europe include many different groups now so diversified they barely share a common race or language. However, the most well known are the larger populations residing mostly in Romania, Moldova and the former Soviet Union. A large number of Romany were sent to concentration camps by the Nazi's from these areas of eastern Europe and Russia. A flood of immigrants mostly from Romania has sparked controversy throughout Europe as the EU's open border policies give rise to the right-wing of French politics who fear the Romany as a danger to the French language and culture in many smaller villages where they have settled. |