Final Interview

I apologize for the delay in postings, this final interview that I planned to do was very hard to get. My husbands mother, Rocio, was just facing the one of many perils of being deported to Mexico, lack of money.

It almost seems to be a normal thing now,new send money weekly, she gets the money, is extremely thankful and the next week we do it all over again. don’t get me wrong, she is by no means lazy and depending on the money that we send her, she works 8 hours a day, 6 days a week and makes the rough equivalent of 20$, minus lunch every day. Things may be cheaper in Mexico (according to my husband you can get 3 tacos from a street vendor for 5 pesos each 1$) but imagine only living off of 20$, having to work daily and living in bedroom house with mold growing above where you sleep. This is the reality for Rocio, deported roughly 3 years ago with a 10 year restriction from entering the United States.

I talk to her frequently and she always tells me because she is not here to take care of her baby for her. My recent conversation with her may have been one of the saddest that I’ve had.

We were talking about the weather, how it’s freezing here and quite warm down there when she asked me “Do you ever wish I was there?” It blindsided me, of course I wish she was here. She left a life behind, three kids, a house, a job.

Whats most important to realize here is that this woman has worked hard her entire life to make sure her children were to live a long, safe life. Mexico is not that ccould happen.

although her life is rough right now, she longs for the day that she can finally come back to America and she her kids as well as live the life she wanted to create for her kids, a happy one.

Immigration Quiz

Q1. What two states were lawful permanent residents (LPRS) most likely to take residence up in 2008?

California and New York ! (Not including other)

What year showed the biggest spike in immigration from 1986 to 2008?

1991! it showed about 1.8 million total immigrants admitted to the U.S

In the 1960’s, was the total amount of immigration more legal or more illegal?

It was more Legal!

Interview II

For this interview I decided to step out of my comfort zone. I must admit, it was a little bit short due to the fact that the lady I interviewed just so happened to be a friend of my husbands grandma and she came to visit. I was lucky enough to be able to speak with her though.

This woman was a 3rd generation child of immigration which means not only did her grandparents suffer the treacherous difficulties of crossing the border (they, along with their 3 children, were deported in the  Operation wetback on the 1950’s. operation wetback was implemented in 1954 by the u.s government after u.s citizens were enraged by Mexican immigration.) Eventually, my husbands grandmas friend was able to meet a friend who was able to help her cross, her grandparents have passed on, but her mother still lives in Mexico. She has no idea about her father.

This woman told me that he’s happy to be a part of my project for school and she said she has a special message to any one who reads this, in her exact words, : “Be happy for the family you have. Anything could rip them apart.”

 

 

http://immigration.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000844

The following link is a wonderful example of the many immigrant undocumented immigrants that can’t live their lives the way they wish to live due to their visa statuses. This link shows not only a number, but a number of hardships that these numbers go through every day to make their lives just a little bit better.

 

First interview for my Service Project

Right off the bat I decided an interview would be best to open up to my Service Project.

The interview that I did was between me, my husband and my husband’s grandma.

I needed my husband to translate because although I know a lot of spanish, It’s not perfect and my understanding of it isn’t as great as I’d like it to be.

To give a little background, his grandma had immigrated here quite a while ago. She couldn’t exactly remember if it was 20 or a little more years ago. His grandma didn’t want me to write down her name, and when asked what I should write she said she wanted to be called Daisy. I couldn’t help but laugh a little, his grandma is NOT a daisy.

She’s more of a bulldozer, a very strong woman with 4 grown up children who all have children! She loves her grandkids, who all but one who was recently born to her second oldest daughter is in America. Daisy works. She works every day, at a hotel downtown, which is NOT light work to say the least.

When I asked her how she feels about America she said optimistic. Now mind you, this woman has just celebrated her 65th birthday and is well within the retirement age. She owns her house and drives a truck, yet things are still difficult for her.

She is not a permanent resident.

Daisy had found solace in her oldest child, who was born here and able to give her a work permit that allows her to do a few things other than work such as drive and maintain her house.

I asked her how she feels about her children and she told me she tries not to worry about the 2 who are in Mexico, one of which is my husbands mother. They were both deported a few years back for getting pulled over on a trip with their families back from Duluth. My husband, illegal at the time, was not able to see his mother at the jail holding cell she was put in for a week and was not able to visit her in Mexico until he filed for his visa last year.

Daisy say’s that she knows her kids were raised right and that although times are difficult in Mexico, My husbands mom makes about 50$ a week working 6 days a week, she believes that they are strong.

Daisy gets up, helping one of my husbands cousins make a tortilla on the stove behind her.

“Hey grandma” another one says.

“Oh mi hijo, hola como estas?” She questions. These two kids are now in her custody, their mother is the other of the two who have been deported.

Life is difficult for them, they began struggling in school ever since their mother has left but they try, Daisy says, they’re trying their best to succeed without a mom or a dad. Their dad, who has never been to America, is still in Mexico.

Daisy loves America, she loves the jobs that are available and doesn’t complain about her $10 she makes an hour. She loves America, it holds safety for her grandchildren and safety for her.

My Service Project : Decision

So in my previous post, i was on the border, so to speak on what I wanted to do for my service project.

I have made my decision!

I find that it would be quite difficult to do something about the drug cartels, so that is OUT.

Which left me with immigration and sustainability.

My decision is…

Immigration!

As for my service project?

Well, here we go.

What i plan to do is bring awareness to the Issue of immigration.

I’ll use this wordpress site to show you guys information, statistics and such on immigration specifics as well as interview families about immigration. I will work alongside people close to me that have crossed the border and if I’m allowed to (by the people i interview) I will post videos of their experiences down there.

Hey, perhaps i could even make a change, who knows?

Since the border is a long ways away, it’s difficult to do much but inform.

But this is my service project none the less, hope it helps!

Can you guess which side is Mexico and Which side is the U.S? (Hint: North is left and South is right)

Service Project

As a service project for this class, we are to do something that will have some sort of effect pertaining to our issue, while still allowing us to be while we are. In other words, my professor doesn’t want us to take an anthropologist approach of participant observation. He simply wants us to make a ripple in an ocean of issues.

So what will I do?

That’s the problem, what CAN I do?

The issue at the border is great. Greater and larger than one person can imagine. There’s so many issues I could touch on, the sustainability issues, the immigration issues, the drug cartel issues. But now is my time to pick one.

My decision? 

Well, you’ll just have to wait until my next post!

Mi Opinión II

Sure, I’ve given much information, many facts and many articles of other people’s opinions on this issue, now it is time for me to give my full on opinion of what I believe is right.

As stated in my previous opinion post, I have a lot of knowledge on immigration, the difficulties surrounding the border and what life is like there. this is not, however firsthand knowledge. Someone very close to me has experienced all of this and more. That would be my husband.

Yes! That is correct! My husband has seen life on the border, he has been there and he has dealt with the entire immigration process. As of today, in fact, after living his entire life as a citizen of Mexico, he received his American SS #. He no longer has to live a life of worry after crossing the border when he was only 3 months old.

What I believe is true and right is that the border should not even exist! Why, when we have an unguarded Canadian border, must we restrict so much to our southern border? Yes, there is the factors of the drug cartels and violence, but that has little to do with the border and much to due with the political atmosphere of both the United States and Mexico leaders. The drug cartels do not solely work on the border, they work within each country to create their cartels.

Seeing the difficulty my husband went through each day, it is difficult to think any other way. The issue of the border has much work to do. Politics plays a huge role in all of this.

This, remember is all just my opinion and you can feel free to disagree with it, whether its the way you were brought up or the way you see these facts, you must have some sort of opinion about this subject.

Long post, sorry bout that!

Poll & A Slideshow

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Immigration and the Border

There are two sides to everything.

The first side of which we have here in regards of Immigration and the Border issues is that of which I see often. “PUT MORE PATROL ON THE BORDERS! WHAT ARE WE SPENDING OUR TAX DOLLARS FOR IF THESE POLITICIANS CANT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT? DAMN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS!”

Okey, maybe not EXACTLY like that, but you get the picture. 

This post from the Huffington Post illustrates that same view. The “Mexicans belong in Mexico” view.

Anti-Latino Hate Crimes Rise As Immigration Debate Intensifies by Cristina Costantini 

Here are a few quotes from this post:

Juan Varela was shot in the neck in his front yard inPhoenix, Ariz., last May by his neighbor Gary Kelley. Moments before killing Varela in front of his mother and brother, Kelley yelled, “Go back to Mexico or die!” Varela was not an illegal immigrant, but a fifth generation American of Mexican descent, said Carlos Galindo, the family’s spokesperson in a phone interview.

Although recent studies indicate anti-Latino hate crimes have been on the rise over the last decade, many believe their numbers are even greater than those reported. Mark Potok, a spokesperson for the SPLC, said in an interview with The Huffington Post that, “one thing to understand is that Latinos, and in particular undocumented immigrants, are among the least likely to report hate crimes because they fear deportation.”

Galindo also said the immigration debate created a dangerous environment for Latinos in his state.”It’s gone from a frustration with the federal government not doing their job, to a frustration with the immigrants and with Latinos in general,” said Galindo. “People are encouraging this kind of demonization and this culture of hatred which results in violence,” he added.

On the other hand here is a post from the New York Times, an opinion piece on “Death in the Desert” by Amanda Rose

Here is a few exerpts

While it’s true that illegal immigration numbers are down overall, migrants are dying in the desert at the same rate that they have been for years (roughly between 150 and 250 deaths a year)

Why does this number remain so disturbingly high? Because of the “funnel effect” created by the militarization of the United States-Mexico border: hundreds of miles of physical barriers, high-tech infrastructure, highway checkpoints and other security enhancements have combined to reroute migrants away from highly trafficked and relatively safe urban crossing zones and into remote and perilous stretches of scorching, waterless desert. Fewer migrants may be crossing, but those that do face more treacherous journeys.

When it comes to illegal immigration, low numbers are one way to measure success. Another is in terms of death and human heartbreak. If you spend even just a day in southern Arizona talking to aid workers, or across the border at a migrant shelter in Mexico teeming with recent deportees, or with Border Patrol agents (who have their own sad tales to tell), the numbers begin to look different.

There are two sides to every thing, as you see and I realize that not everyone is the same and has the same view as the views above. But it is important to know that these views are out there!