> Features > Pg 2 Feature Stories > Relief worker: no quick fixes to illegal immigration
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Relief worker: no quick fixes to illegal immigration
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One of the people who has disappeared in the journey to this country.
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By G. Michael Dobbs, Managing Editor
Massachusetts may not be in the center of the illegal immigration controversy as southwestern states may be, but the issue is real in the Bay State.
According to estimates from The Pew Hispanic Center, the state's illegal alien population is at 150,000 to 250,000 as of 2005.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimate of the state's illegal alien population as of 2005 is about 154,000 persons. This is part of an overall estimate of the U.S. illegal alien population of about 11 million persons.
What does that cost taxpayers? Based on 2004 data, FAIR has estimated that educational expenditures for illegal immigrants were costing the Massachusetts taxpayers $494.4 million dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were illegally in the country ($206 million) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($288.5 million).
While many people are debating the immediate actions the country needs to address the issues, Meghan Marshall has one solution: build up the industries in Central America so that residents don't feel the need to travel north to try to support themselves and their families,
Marshall is a Catholic Relief Worker who spent a year and half in El Salvador advising people thinking of making the journey to the United States of their human rights. She is now working with the Springfield Diocese for the next six months.
Marshall said that many Salvadorians do try to enter the country legally by trying to obtain visas, but lack the needed collateral. They then make the decision of attempting the dangerous journey through Mexico to the United States.
People disappear in Mexico, she said. Illegal aliens are harassed and robbed by both Mexican police and criminal gangs. If they survive those threats, they still have to face the crossing of the desert to reach the American border. Death from dehydration is a very real possibility.
Marshall said that women and children are the most vulnerable. Some women are traveling north to be re-united with families and are lured or forced into the sex industry. Children, who are looking for their parents in the United States, are also victimized.
El Salvador is a small nation of three million people, Marshall noted, but hundreds of people leave the country every week. Those illegal aliens send back $3 billion annually to their families from their jobs here. That sum is a significant part of the nation's economy, she said.
Marshall said that most people she spoke with didn't know they had any human rights. The transient nature of their lives makes it difficult for any agency to enforce those rights, she explained.
To see first-hand the plight of the illegal aliens, Marshall and a friend traveled through Mexico along a parallel path as the aliens.
"We both live in solidarity with the poor," she said. "It was a huge reality we were missing out on."
She said that, because of the danger, she did not travel with them, but went to areas where illegal aliens gathered and sought services. Guides showed them how they hopped onto freight cars heading north. She spoke with the relief workers who were trying to help them.
She said the strong family culture compels the immigrants to want to be together in the United States and, despite their danger, they have great faith they view Jesus as one of them.
She said some Mexicans are understanding of their plight while others say they don't deserve to be in the country.
She also made two crossings into the United States: one in El Paso, TX, and the other across the desert in Arizona.
Her experiences have led to several conclusions. She believes a wall among the southern border would only encourage more clandestine ways of getting into the country.
Sealing the border only would neglect the root causes of the immigration: not enough jobs in other nations, she maintained. The poverty in Latin American fuels the move north for people.
She charged that because El Salvador has troops in Iraq, the Bush Administration is not interested in clamping down on illegal Salvadoran immigration.
She said change would take a long time and that she doesn't want to see legislation that would criminalize and dehumanize people or break up families.
"There are no quick fixes," she said.
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> Features > Pg 2 Feature Stories > Relief worker: no quick fixes to illegal immigration
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