Tonight we had a conference on immigration with a man who told his story about immigrating from Guatemala to Los Angeles when he was a teenager. I've read a couple books (like "Enrique's Journey") and watched movies ("El Norte") about illegal immigration, but it was very different hearing the story in person. The man told us he immigrated from Cajola, Guatemala through Mexico and Houston in 1996 with a group of other young men. They had no idea about where they were going, calling it "El Norte" just like the movie, and suffered a lot on their way. They paid the guides a lot of money and had a few failed attempts when they first tried to get through Mexico because the guide did not have much idea of where to go either. At times, they had no money and slept in the mountains with just a little piece of bread. Once through the border (only some of the group) they lied and said they were Mexican as to not get deported all the way back to Guatemala. When he got to Houston, he said that many immigrants were assaulted at gunpoint(women and children too), but that finally when he got to Los Angeles to visit some of his family, he could finally find work and build more of a life. He stayed in Los Angeles for 10 years.
After he told his story, another woman (half American, half Guatemalan) shared her experiences from Morristown, New Jersey, helping immigrants find work. She told us about conflicting laws in the U.S. that say that immigrants who marry U.S. citizens can become legal citizens, but if they were caught as illegal immigrants in the past, they are disqualified from this right.
I'm glad we're starting to talk about immigration, and it was great to hear the firsthand perspective of both these people. While I was back in the states last week looking for an apartment, I visited relatives (a niece and her husband and two daughters) of my family here in Guatemala, and they were so warm! We had a great conversation, but it was also shocking going into this neighborhood 20 minutes from my house which was like a little Mexico/Guatemala. Everyone in the apartment complex spoke Spanish. I was also shocked to learn that their two daughters (age 6 and 7) hardly speak a word of English after living practically their whole lives in Houston. There are so many Spanish speakers in the public school where they study that they only have English lessons once a day and for the rest of the time, speak in Spanish. It's sad that these young girls do not have the resources to learn English in the U.S. because that's what they need to change their economic status in the future.
The Hispanic population in the U.S. is so much bigger than I've realized in the past and there are so many issues - immigration rights, education rights, access to health, etc. I'm really thankful that I've gotten the chance to learn so much more about these issues and perhaps do something about it in the future.
