LITTLE ROCK, AR-- The widespread nature of the economic crisis in the United States can be seen clearly at the Mercado San Jose Grocery and Bakery, particularly on Friday nights when paychecks are handed out in Little Rock's Hispanic community.



At a little cubicle by the front door, young men line up at the money transfer window to send cash home to their families in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and other countries where poverty is rampant.



These days, though, the lines are shorter than normal and the amounts of money wired home are much lower than they were last year. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, 73 percent of Hispanics in the United States are reporting a drop in the money they can afford to send home.



"Many foreign-born Hispanics seem to be hit harder by this economic downturn than native-born Hispanics or the general U.S. population," said Mark Lopez, the associate director of the Pew Hispanic Center.



"They're the ones that have borne the large part of the job loss in this downturn and they're the ones that seem to be most at risk for losing their homes to foreclosure," he said.



Store manager Saul Gutierrez agrees that the number of foreign transactions from workers to their families is way down. "I would say about 50 to 55 percent," he said. "There's weeks where it's even more than 60 percent, and it's real slow, extremely slow."



Mexican immigrant Moises Montegron, who struggles to find work in construction, said he used to send money home four times a month, but now it's down to just twice a month.



Roberto Ramirez, also from Mexico, is in a worse situation. When construction ...