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Thursday, February 23, 2012

Immigrant's Daughter, Immigrant's Wife

 


Many of the bloggers I read are currently situated near the border with Mexico and our current border policy in the U.S. prompted me to read a book called Crossing Over: A Mexican Family over the Migrant Trail by Ruben Martinez. In this book he traces the story of a family and a community, starting with the tragic death of 3 brothers who died in a horrific car accident while being chased by the U.S. Border Patrol.  In spite of their loss, other members of the family then continue to make the risky trip across the border because they have few other options in their economic situation in Mexico at the current time.

I myself am an immigrant's daughter. My mother is a Canadian who married an American. I grew up with the influence of her culture and then I married a Canadian. When you're going to marry a foreigner, you are supposed to get a Fiance Visa first before bringing them to the country, but we wanted to be together right away so he just entered the country as a visitor and we wed.  After we got married and started the official immigration process, our case worker casually said we shouldn't have done that, stamped some paperwork, and within four months he was a legal permanent resident.

People say they don't like the situation with the Mexican immigrants because they are taking away jobs, but the truth is most Americans don't want to do the kind of work that the immigrants are doing: working 10 or 12 hour days 6 days a week moving with the harvest picking fruits and vegetables, working in meat packing plants, and at the bottom of the rung in the service sector in hotels and restaurants.  Most Americans, even unskilled teenagers, don't want those jobs when they can work at easier fast food or retail jobs for the same pay. We have a long history of hiring Mexicans or other non-English speaking immigrants for these jobs, decades, and a lot of immigrants are here on legal work permits to do short-term seasonal jobs in agriculture. Most of the immigrants aren't here permanently, going back to Mexico for a few months or more every year and need these jobs to provide for family members left behind. Yes, that means that American dollars are leaving our economy, but there are dollars being spent here also on food, shelter, household items and even cars. In all the years my husband has been in this country, I don't think one person has ever said that he took a job away from someone else.  As a matter of fact, when most people find out he is a Canadian and has a green card, their reaction is "Canadians need a Green Card?" In our home province of Newfoundland in Canada, it is still common practice for a significant portion of the population to leave the island and go to the mainland to work in the oil industry, diamond mines and other fields. Much like the Mexican immigrants, many only work part of the year and return home. Luckily, they don't have to leave their country to work, but they still travel incredible distances and spend a long time away from those they love. If we know English speaking Americans don't want certain jobs, and we currently give out seasonal Visas for a portion of Mexicans to come over here and work, why aren't we allowing more workers to come here legally? They are doing the jobs anyway, why not make it safer for more of them to do so?

In an economy stricken by extreme poverty, violence from the drug cartels, and political corruption, Mexicans need these jobs in America to survive and go to extreme lengths to cross the border to get them. This is the story of the immigrant, a story America has been telling for over two hundred years, people leaving their country for a chance at a better life. There are things they give up for this opportunity, things I can relate to. They leave family members behind and don't get to visit them sometimes for years, if ever again. They try to hang on to their culture and traditions, but it's hard for their children and grandchildren to relate to a culture they haven't experienced firsthand. They lose some precious things and gain some others. Throughout my life I have been exposed to many other newly immigrated families. My parents' neighbors are another ex-Navy couple, the wife from Japan.  My best friend in high school's mother was from Puerto Rico. While we were homeschooling I had the extreme privilege of meeting Mojgan, whose family fled the Middle East in the 1970's when she was a teenager. She spent her last year of high school doing her homework with an English-Farsi translation book open for at least 4 hours every night. In my experience, these families worked hard and gave up a lot to be here, and are grateful for the opportunities they and their children have because of our country allowing them to stay.

 Do I have the answers to our current immigration dilemma or Mexico's political problems? Absolutely not. But what we are doing now is not only not deterring anyone from getting here, it is extremely dangerous as well as expensive. My husband technically crossed over illegally, and truthfully I believe that because he was white and spoke English he received much different treatment than he would have had he been a man of color and/or spoke a foreign language. I plan to do more research into the history of immigration, especially in regard to our Mexican neighbors. As all my fellow travelers are spending time near the border, and often crossing back and forth, take a moment and try to view the border patrol activity with new eyes and maybe try to find out a little more about what is going on. I would love to hear some first-hand stories, if any of you have them to share!

7 comments:

  1. I grew up in southern Arizona, and for a time (as a child) lived on a ranch between Sierra Vista and Bisbee that abutted the Mexico border. That was in the 1950's... and as they say, things has changed since then. In those days we relied on Mexicans for help... they just hopped the fence. They worked for little money and were happy to do so, and ranchers appreciated their work ethic and reliability.

    It was an age of trust and innocence, the 50's. Now, things are complicated by drug smuggling and the Cartels that drive that industry, and to some extent, 9/11 plays a role. Some think we are "vulnerable" on our southern border. It is also complicated further when people come here to work... bring family and friends and never leave... it can be a financial drain on state budgets to educated and supplement services to a swelling, and somewhat dependent demographic.

    During boom times we need Mexico's supply of labor, not only to harvest our crops, but to fill the lesser jobs that, as you say, we shun. But these are not boom times. We have been returning to southern Az. to winter off and on for 20 years, and this year there was a distinct difference in Border Patrol presence. The past few years they were everywhere... rounding up people in the desert and in towns as well. This year we could count on one hand the number of B. Patrol vehicles we saw out in the boondocks, and I'm guessing that it's because their are so few jobs here now. It is a double edged sword dilemma.

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  2. Thanks for your story! I know what you mean about the burden on our budgets, and I've often wondered if in the ESL classes at the school if they are just interpreting for the students or if there is an effort to improve their English, which will improve their prospects at a better education and better jobs. I believe this is one of the larger problems getting in the way of the acceptance of the hispanic community by others. Because they have such a large population stateside it makes it less urgent for them to learn English. But is that just part of our changing demographic as a country that is inevitable? Will we soon be like Canada and be an officially bi-lingual country? More questions than answers!

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  3. To me, it is interesting that so many of our immigrants are highly educated people that are doing jobs most Americans are too lazy to spend the time it takes to prepare to do them. I have a son-in-law who is Italian and he is a Ph.D and a post-graduate fellow. He and my daughter recently moved to Canada because he was so disgusted with having to renew his green card every year and having to do research based on what he could get money to do rather than choosing his research and getting paid to do it. In Canada, he only has to apply for a green card once and he decides what he will study.

    And when he married my daughter, most of his and my daughter's friends at the wedding were all foreigners from many different countries.

    The perception of the value of immigrants is truly very different from the reality.

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  4. Thanks, Marilyn, for yet another point of view! I don't know anyone in that situation myself. One of my husband's brothers was working in this country many years ago, but it was a temporary/closed ended situation more than 20 years ago. I know when we met some other Canadians who had married Americans some years after my husband had gotten his green card that they didn't have the same easy experience that we did and had to keep renewing their visas. What concerns me the most is what you pointed out...the value of immigrants, and how quickly so many seem to forget that this country is full of people that are just a generation or two from their own ancestors who were immigrants and that the ideals of the immigrant are what this country was built upon.

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  5. Like your blog and am putting it on my blogroll, and thanks for the same.

    All of us U.S. citizens are immigrants or children of such. And that includes the natives, whose ancestors came across the Bering Straits! We're all just human beans trying to get through, we should take care of each other, better, I guess. :)

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  6. I have no personal experiences, but would like to share my thought on the subject.

    I think all immigrants should be allowed to come over legally for employment or even for a better life, but I think they should have to get a SS card and pay taxes as everyone else. However, they are not entitled for gov't benefits unless they become a US citizen. Couldn't that resolve a lot of issues for everyone?

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  7. Interestingly enough a friend of mine recently pointed out to me that some illegals are here working with falsified papers, including social security cards. They are paying into social security and will never collect any of it, and are paying taxes and are likely not filing for refunds.

    I don't know what the current laws are concerning government benefits, but I know that when my husband got his permanent resident alien card 22 years ago they told him he wasn't allowed to receive assistance. He does pay into social security, of course, and is eligible to receive those benefits since he paid into them and it doesn't qualify as "aid".

    I know that occasionally those emails go around (during election time)about all the benefits paid out to illegals...but I personally don't think there is any validity to that. Someone has to be manipulating data or just plain making it up most likely. I keep meaning to look into it...but it's so easy to get distracted!! It would definitely simplify things if they were just allowed to come over legally, you would think it would be a win-win for both countries.

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