Post by Modesto Anarcho on Sept 10, 2007 0:31:58 GMT -5
By Jennie Rodriguez
Record Staff Writer
September 09, 2007 6:00 AM
STOCKTON - For most migrating to the United States, there's one driving reason: the pursuit of better living conditions - employment opportunities, education and the escape from political corruption.
But what if your migration isn't legal? What if in the new country you call home, getting stopped by police might result in deportation to the country you left? What if today - every day - you wake up hoping that when you get to work, you still have a job?
It's a constant worry of "will today be the day?" said Lupe Madera, a 42-year-old mother of three. The family has been in the United States seven years.
In the United States, there are more than 12 million undocumented immigrants, working the fields, construction, hospitality, landscaping and so on. One such Stockton family is the Maderas. (The Mexican native family spoke on the condition their real names and identities be concealed.)
On a recent Wednesday evening, they gathered around the dining room table, scooping with pieces of tortillas small bunches of egg, cheese and corn from their plates. It was dinner time, after a 12-hour workday for Lupe Madera and her oldest daughter, Erica.
"We came for the same reason everyone comes to the U.S.," Lupe Madera said as her family had supper. She sat on the couch, grasping her hands and laying them on her lap.
Madera, her husband, Salvador, and their 22-year-old daughter Erica work in Stockton with fake Social Security numbers, like millions others. They hope to stay in the shadows, unnoticed.
But Mother and daughter were fired from jobs with a staffing agency Sept. 1, shortly after the U.S. Homeland Security Department announced 140,000 warning letters would be mailed to employers that commissioned workers with mismatched Social Security numbers, such as those used by the Maderas. The warnings are part of a crackdown on illegal immigration.
But even as the letters are halted temporarily until Oct. 1, a number of employees with the discrepancies in the Stockton area already are being let go, according to local immigration advocates.
Lupe and Erica Madera said their former employer knew the women were providing false documentation.
But after Sept. 1, "the company said it didn't want illegals anymore," Madera said.
Five people live in the family's one-bedroom apartment, including the couple's 12-year-old daughter Araseli and a family friend. With minimum-wage incomes they combine, the family is able to pay rent and bills and send money to a 15-year-old daughter who was left in Mexico.
A San Francisco judge Aug. 31 issued the order temporarily suspending the letter mailing based on a lawsuit filed by the National Immigration Law Center, AFL-CIO and ACLU. The lawsuit claimed Homeland Security would be using error-prone Social Security records illegally for immigration enforcement. Also, the lawsuit claimed legal workers would be discriminated against in hiring scenarios should the letters be sent.
In the meantime, Lupe and Erica Madera have joined another staffing agency to continue contributing to their household. They'll coast along, switching from job to job, until either the dust settles on the letters issue, Lupe Madera said, or until there is no means of survival for them in the United States. If all else fails, they'll return to Mexico.
"We have to think about everything well, because they're about to throw us out," Lupe Madera said.
"That day they will kill our hope," she said. The Maderas don't qualify for any social programs. "We have to pay our own rent, doctor visits. ... We don't go to the doctor. ... Who could help us?" Salvador Madera said.
In the meantime, Araseli will continue her public schooling in Stockton.
"She says she wants to go to Delta (College)," her mother said.
Erica Madera hopes the letters halt will buy her more time to realize her goal.
"I want to be a photographer," she said, running her finger across her bandaged left arm that was injured at work. She takes evening English classes after 12-hour workdays.
Advocates including El Concilio and the immigrant project Proyecto Voz fear the Homeland Security letters will unearth discrimination among both legal and illegal Latino workers. Both organizations have been experiencing an increase of visits from workers who have lost their jobs.
National immigration experts say eliminating undocumented immigrants from the work force will place a significant dent on the U.S. economy.
"The effects are already being felt in our community," Luis Magaña of Proyecto Voz said.
The crackdown's effects are still unclear in the agriculture industry, said Bruce Blodgett, executive director of the San Joaquin Farm Bureau.
"Time will tell whenever they start contacting employers," Blodgett said. "Many of those numbers can easily be rectified.
"It might be the fact that they omitted a middle initial," he added.
The Farm Bureau is mostly concerned with the timing of the letters, as the harvest season is still in progress.
"If Congress would have done its job, this wouldn't be a discussion point. That's the biggest source of frustration between farm growers," Blodgett said, referring to Congress' failure to pass proposed immigration legislation earlier this year that included a guest-worker program.
Contact reporter Jennie Rodriguez at (209) 943-8564 or jrodriguez@recordnet.com.
Record Staff Writer
September 09, 2007 6:00 AM
STOCKTON - For most migrating to the United States, there's one driving reason: the pursuit of better living conditions - employment opportunities, education and the escape from political corruption.
But what if your migration isn't legal? What if in the new country you call home, getting stopped by police might result in deportation to the country you left? What if today - every day - you wake up hoping that when you get to work, you still have a job?
It's a constant worry of "will today be the day?" said Lupe Madera, a 42-year-old mother of three. The family has been in the United States seven years.
In the United States, there are more than 12 million undocumented immigrants, working the fields, construction, hospitality, landscaping and so on. One such Stockton family is the Maderas. (The Mexican native family spoke on the condition their real names and identities be concealed.)
On a recent Wednesday evening, they gathered around the dining room table, scooping with pieces of tortillas small bunches of egg, cheese and corn from their plates. It was dinner time, after a 12-hour workday for Lupe Madera and her oldest daughter, Erica.
"We came for the same reason everyone comes to the U.S.," Lupe Madera said as her family had supper. She sat on the couch, grasping her hands and laying them on her lap.
Madera, her husband, Salvador, and their 22-year-old daughter Erica work in Stockton with fake Social Security numbers, like millions others. They hope to stay in the shadows, unnoticed.
But Mother and daughter were fired from jobs with a staffing agency Sept. 1, shortly after the U.S. Homeland Security Department announced 140,000 warning letters would be mailed to employers that commissioned workers with mismatched Social Security numbers, such as those used by the Maderas. The warnings are part of a crackdown on illegal immigration.
But even as the letters are halted temporarily until Oct. 1, a number of employees with the discrepancies in the Stockton area already are being let go, according to local immigration advocates.
Lupe and Erica Madera said their former employer knew the women were providing false documentation.
But after Sept. 1, "the company said it didn't want illegals anymore," Madera said.
Five people live in the family's one-bedroom apartment, including the couple's 12-year-old daughter Araseli and a family friend. With minimum-wage incomes they combine, the family is able to pay rent and bills and send money to a 15-year-old daughter who was left in Mexico.
A San Francisco judge Aug. 31 issued the order temporarily suspending the letter mailing based on a lawsuit filed by the National Immigration Law Center, AFL-CIO and ACLU. The lawsuit claimed Homeland Security would be using error-prone Social Security records illegally for immigration enforcement. Also, the lawsuit claimed legal workers would be discriminated against in hiring scenarios should the letters be sent.
In the meantime, Lupe and Erica Madera have joined another staffing agency to continue contributing to their household. They'll coast along, switching from job to job, until either the dust settles on the letters issue, Lupe Madera said, or until there is no means of survival for them in the United States. If all else fails, they'll return to Mexico.
"We have to think about everything well, because they're about to throw us out," Lupe Madera said.
"That day they will kill our hope," she said. The Maderas don't qualify for any social programs. "We have to pay our own rent, doctor visits. ... We don't go to the doctor. ... Who could help us?" Salvador Madera said.
In the meantime, Araseli will continue her public schooling in Stockton.
"She says she wants to go to Delta (College)," her mother said.
Erica Madera hopes the letters halt will buy her more time to realize her goal.
"I want to be a photographer," she said, running her finger across her bandaged left arm that was injured at work. She takes evening English classes after 12-hour workdays.
Advocates including El Concilio and the immigrant project Proyecto Voz fear the Homeland Security letters will unearth discrimination among both legal and illegal Latino workers. Both organizations have been experiencing an increase of visits from workers who have lost their jobs.
National immigration experts say eliminating undocumented immigrants from the work force will place a significant dent on the U.S. economy.
"The effects are already being felt in our community," Luis Magaña of Proyecto Voz said.
The crackdown's effects are still unclear in the agriculture industry, said Bruce Blodgett, executive director of the San Joaquin Farm Bureau.
"Time will tell whenever they start contacting employers," Blodgett said. "Many of those numbers can easily be rectified.
"It might be the fact that they omitted a middle initial," he added.
The Farm Bureau is mostly concerned with the timing of the letters, as the harvest season is still in progress.
"If Congress would have done its job, this wouldn't be a discussion point. That's the biggest source of frustration between farm growers," Blodgett said, referring to Congress' failure to pass proposed immigration legislation earlier this year that included a guest-worker program.
Contact reporter Jennie Rodriguez at (209) 943-8564 or jrodriguez@recordnet.com.