Immigrants go home for holidays

[peejay 327]

Immigrants go home for holidays

They bring gifts to family they left in Mexico — and worries about life in the United States

By DUDLEY ALTHAUS

2007 Houston Chronicle

NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO — Christmas for some of Mexico's poorer communities has been rolling southward in thousands of vehicles from the United States.

About 1.2 million Mexican immigrants and U.S.-born dependents were expected to make the pilgrimage home this holiday season, many of them through this gateway, the most direct land route into the Mexican heartland.

As they do every year, the immigrants came bearing billions of dollars in gifts for those they left behind. But this year the returnees also made the journey with growing concerns about evaporating jobs in the United States and a hardening of attitudes toward illegal immigrants.

"There are many families (in Mexico) who survive" because of the Christmas gifts, said Marta Grimaldi, 38, a school maintenance worker from Houston heading to central Mexico to visit her stepmother. "And they are very worried because things seem to be getting worse."

Those worries are echoed by Mexican officials, who are concerned about the treatment of their countrymen and aware of the key place immigrants hold in this country's economy.

"We hope to have in the future a country that doesn't expel any of its children because of hunger," President Felipe Calderon said last week in a ceremony welcoming the immigrants home for the holidays.

$5 billion goes with them

More than 6 million Mexicans now live in the U.S. illegally, a recent Calderon administration study said. Other studies suggest that perhaps another 6 million have become legal U.S. residents, many after arriving without legal papers.

In recent years, Mexican immigrants in the United States have been sending home at least $23 billion annually to support their families and invest in their communities, according to Mexico's central bank. That money flows into some of the country's poorest communities, providing a lifeline to 17 million people, other studies report. In addition, the immigrants who returned this Christmas season were expected to bring $5 billion in gifts to family and friends, a Mexican congressional commission estimated.

That bounty has created expectations back home that can weigh heavily on the returnees.

"Money, money, money," shrugged a wearily smiling Isabel Gutierrez, 53, a legal U.S. resident who works as a carpenter in Atlanta. "That's what they always want. We just don't have it.

"Everyone thinks we're rich because we go to visit them every year. It couldn't be more different," said Gutierrez, who was traveling with his Mexican-born wife, Rosa, and their 12-year-old-daughter, who struggles with Spanish, to visit relatives in rural Michoacan state.

Still, things in the U.S. are better than back home. The license plates of the vehicles heading south — mostly late-model minivans, pickups and sport utility vehicles — tell the tale: Texas, California, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Virginia.

All kinds of goodies have been stuffed inside the vehicles or lashed to their roofs and tails. More than a few pull a second car that will be left behind in Mexico.

"Many of them say that we are rich," Grimaldi, the Houston maintenance worker, said of her family members on the receiving end of the giving. "But when they come up themselves, they realize we sweat for what we have."

Originally illegal

Most returnees are legal residents in the U.S. Getting back to homes and jobs north of the border after the holidays would prove too difficult and expensive otherwise. But many also originally went north without legal documents. And they have friends and relatives still living illegally in the U.S. The chorus for tightening the border and clamping down on illegal crossers has left more than a few fretful.

"A lot of people never know when they are going to be sent back," said Rosa Gutierrez, who became legal with her husband in the 1986 immigration reforms.

Even as the immigrants poured south from Laredo along the Pan American Highway last week, others were making their way north.

Temporary refuge

The economies of Mexico and Latin America might be improving, but not nearly enough to provide for all. Spurred on by the apparent success of people returning from jobs in North America, many of the short-changed hit the road.

After traveling for days or weeks by foot and rail — and now within sight of the U.S. — many find themselves stopped at the Rio Grande by stepped-up Border Patrol enforcement or the dangers of the river crossing itself.

Nearly 100 people, most of them Central Americans but others from across Mexico, found temporary refuge last week at a shelter in a rough Nuevo Laredo neighborhood run by the Scalabrinis, a Roman Catholic religious order dedicated to helping the undocumented worldwide.

"I am a migrant," says a prayer in Spanish on the wall of the shelter's dining hall, which the priests say has fed about 10,000 travelers this year. "I am a person searching for the work I couldn't find in my own land," the prayer continues. "That is why I've put myself on the trail, in hopes of a better life for myself and mine."

Karina Cisneros sat in the gathering dusk in the shelter's back patio, waiting for supper and thinking how she'll make it to Houston, where friends await.

A 25-year-old nurse from Guatemala City, Cisneros said she was forced to flee north when gang members threatened to kill her after her shopkeeper mother refused to pay extortion money.

Leaving three young daughters at home, Cisneros said, she traveled north with two other women, mostly by hopping freight trains through Mexico. She's been in Nuevo Laredo for more than a week now, Cisneros said, collecting more money by cleaning houses for $9 a day. She's joined up with a Mexican man who says he's hiked the South Texas desert before and will do it again.

Cisneros says she's frightened, but determined. "Just the idea of crossing the river scares me," she said with a soft voice and a winsome smile. "But my mother is Christian and she has been praying for us the whole time. So we haven't suffered any problems.

"I'm going to arrive in Houston," she said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headli...ld/5399840.html

[rebeccajo 14]

Peejay.....

I'd love to see you spend the amount of time you spend reading up on illegals and posting your drivel on something constructive - like ringing the Salvation Army bell outside WalMart or doing some volunteer work with kids.

Or maybe joining a political action committee to do some GOOD about immigration laws. Then you might realize that not everybody here illegally is a Mexican and not everybody here illegally is out to TAKE from you.

[Fandango 1,440]

Those worries are echoed by Mexican officials, who are concerned about the treatment of their countrymen and aware of the key place immigrants hold in this country's economy.

"We hope to have in the future a country that doesn't expel any of its children because of hunger," President Felipe Calderon said last week in a ceremony welcoming the immigrants home for the holidays.

that's rich considering their immigration policy!

[PlatyPius 5]

All of those Mexicans leaving the US for Xmas..... is that what Bing Crosby meant when he sang "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas"?

</tongue in cheek>

this post was NOT racist, as I think we all know that Mexicans are "white". This post is what is commonly called "humour". Any attempts to use this post to prove that PlatyPius is a racist will only show how stupid you really are.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Then you might realize that not everybody here illegally is a Mexican and not everybody here illegally is out to TAKE from you.

I don't remember peejay ever making a claim to the former. As to the latter, they do take from the taxpayer. That's you and me and peejay. And they take billions of dollars each year.

[Ban Hammer 14,279]

this post was NOT racist, as I think we all know that Mexicans are "white". This post is what is commonly called "humour". Any attempts to use this post to prove that PlatyPius is a racist will only show how stupid you really are.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

All of those Mexicans leaving the US for Xmas..... is that what Bing Crosby meant when he sang "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas"?

</tongue in cheek>

[peejay 327]

Peejay.....

I'd love to see you spend the amount of time you spend reading up on illegals and posting your drivel on something constructive - like ringing the Salvation Army bell outside WalMart or doing some volunteer work with kids.

Or maybe joining a political action committee to do some GOOD about immigration laws. Then you might realize that not everybody here illegally is a Mexican and not everybody here illegally is out to TAKE from you.

Gee...it is an immigration forum. It's not like I'm posting it on a sports forum or a computer forum.

So what if I post stuff I run across while reading the newspaper online? If it ruins your day...don't read it!

And...BTW...have a Mery X-mas and a Happy New Year.

[rebeccajo 14]

Then you might realize that not everybody here illegally is a Mexican and not everybody here illegally is out to TAKE from you.

I don't remember peejay ever making a claim to the former. As to the latter, they do take from the taxpayer. That's you and me and peejay. And they take billions of dollars each year.

I get tired of it, Reinhard, that's all.

People pizzing and moaning about the illegals just bores me. Spend some time doing something good in the world, cure the ails you can, and move on. If you feel passionately about something you feel is a political wrong, then get off your butt and get involved to solve the problem.

[natty bumppo 297]

Wonder how many will not make the trip back?

[rebeccajo 14]

Peejay.....

I'd love to see you spend the amount of time you spend reading up on illegals and posting your drivel on something constructive - like ringing the Salvation Army bell outside WalMart or doing some volunteer work with kids.

Or maybe joining a political action committee to do some GOOD about immigration laws. Then you might realize that not everybody here illegally is a Mexican and not everybody here illegally is out to TAKE from you.

Gee...it is an immigration forum. It's not like I'm posting it on a sports forum or a computer forum.

So what if I post stuff I run across while reading the newspaper online? If it ruins your day...don't read it!

And...BTW...have a Mery X-mas and a Happy New Year.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas too. There's little kids and poor people out there who won't. Help make their day a little brighter if you can. You know, give a big tip to your trash guy or the waitress you see everyday.

We can't solve all the worlds problems by ######*ng and kvetching. But we can try in little ways to make the world a better place.

And I don't care if it sounds Pollyana. It works.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Then you might realize that not everybody here illegally is a Mexican and not everybody here illegally is out to TAKE from you.

I don't remember peejay ever making a claim to the former. As to the latter, they do take from the taxpayer. That's you and me and peejay. And they take billions of dollars each year.

I get tired of it, Reinhard, that's all.

People pizzing and moaning about the illegals just bores me. Spend some time doing something good in the world, cure the ails you can, and move on. If you feel passionately about something you feel is a political wrong, then get off your butt and get involved to solve the problem.

If you get tired of it and if it bores you, then don't read it. Why is that so hard?

[Craneman 2]

Mother Theresa

Illegals are illegals, the of aim this forum is to not be illegal.

Peejay.....

I'd love to see you spend the amount of time you spend reading up on illegals and posting your drivel on something constructive - like ringing the Salvation Army bell outside WalMart or doing some volunteer work with kids.

Or maybe joining a political action committee to do some GOOD about immigration laws. Then you might realize that not everybody here illegally is a Mexican and not everybody here illegally is out to TAKE from you.

Gee...it is an immigration forum. It's not like I'm posting it on a sports forum or a computer forum.

So what if I post stuff I run across while reading the newspaper online? If it ruins your day...don't read it!

And...BTW...have a Mery X-mas and a Happy New Year.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas too. There's little kids and poor people out there who won't. Help make their day a little brighter if you can. You know, give a big tip to your trash guy or the waitress you see everyday.

We can't solve all the worlds problems by ######*ng and kvetching. But we can try in little ways to make the world a better place.

And I don't care if it sounds Pollyana. It works.

[Jenn! 918]

We have quite a few members that did not have legal status at some point in their lives. It's one thing to discuss policy, but around here there is a whole lot of actual hatred for people who have been here illegally, accusations of moral bankruptcy and all. I don't think it's asking too much to tone it down a bit, for sensitivity's sake.

The difference between someone who has done the "right thing" and someone who has not may just be a matter of timing.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

We have quite a few members that did not have legal status at some point in their lives. It's one thing to discuss policy, but around here there is a whole lot of actual hatred for people who have been here illegally, accusations of moral bankruptcy and all. I don't think it's asking too much to tone it down a bit, for sensitivity's sake.

The difference between someone who has done the "right thing" and someone who has not may just be a matter of timing.

Illegal is not a matter of timing, it's a matter of law. If you flaunt the law, and illegals do that at every step of their lives here, then your morality is subject to question and those here legally have every right to comment on it.

Peejay and others who post articles about immigration in an immigration forum are doing the right thing. This is info we need to know inorder to act, not just kvetch. Illegal lovers, or the easily bored, who want to remain ignorant can choose not to read, and then not to kvetch themselves. The issue isn't going away and neither are those of us who have an abiding interest in it. Deal with it.