Evangelical churches may be seeing their populations growing in bad times, but one population may be shrinking: the population of Mexican nationals living in the United States, both those here legally and those here illegally:
Layoffs, dwindling job opportunities, anti-immigrant sentiment and the crackdown on illegal immigrants are forcing hard choices on many Mexican nationals in Colorado. Though not an exodus, some are returning to a nation they haven't seen in years.
"You despair. You think, 'I used to earn $600 a week and now I'm getting half of that a week?"' said Ramirez, 38, who lost his Denver construction job in August. He left last week, driving to San Luis Potosi in central Mexico.Mexico's consul general in Denver, Eduardo Arnal, said more people like Ramirez are going home for good.
He cites a rise in applications for import tax exemptions by Mexican nationals bringing home their belongings. The consulate hasn't compiled statistics for 2008 but says it receives about three applications a day, compared to one per week in 2007. [...]
Nationally, remittances to Mexico are down, as is Mexican emigration to the U.S.
August remittances totaled $1.9 billion, down 12 percent from August 2007, Mexico's Central Bank says. It's the first drop since the bank began tracking remittances in 1996. [...]
Espinoza said the recession's onset took him by surprise. He'll be seeing his country for the first time in nearly two decades.
"I miss my country," said Espinoza, 34, who is returning to Guadalajara, Jalisco.
Vicenta Rodriguez Lopez lives in Severance, about 60 miles north of Denver. She's leaving for the Mexican state of Sinaloa after 15 years because her husband, who worked at a ranch dairy, was deported for being here illegally.
"He told me to pack up everything," Rodriguez, 40, said in Spanish. "We're not young anymore."
But some immigrants are making a different choice:
From the article:
That's hardly an indicator of reverse migration, noted Carlos Rico, Mexico's undersecretary for North American affairs. Rico said what is known is that Mexicans are moving to other U.S. states - often places that historically have not seen a large population of Mexicans. They include North Carolina, Georgia, Idaho and Alaska, Rico said.
Whether for economic or anti-immigrant reasons, Rico said, "People are looking for alternatives within the United States."
It's true that in times of economic crisis, illegal immigration can create passionate debate between those who think that compassion to the poor doesn't depend on their immigration status and those who think that it's unfair for unemployed Americans to have to compete with illegal immigrants for jobs. But these debates sometimes start from the viewpoint that sees illegal immigrants as having no other options than to ride out the economic storm with the rest of us, to face the same consequences and accept the same realities of life that everyone in America will face.
Some, though only a few, Mexican immigrants, legal and not, have found another way, however. Mexico's economy is showing signs of mild growth, and while the gains have been small so far, it may soon be true for some Mexicans living in the United States that their home country is providing better opportunities, at least in the short term. The decision to leave is a complicated one, though, especially for those who are here illegally and have no idea if they would ever be able to return.
One thing is likely, though: if the American economy worsens significantly, more Mexican nationals--and more immigrants, legal or not--may decide they'd better leave--not just for another state, but for their home nations. And eventually that could have an impact on the debate over all of our policies concerning immigration.
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Rico said what is known is that Mexicans are moving to other U.S. states - often places that historically have not seen a large population of Mexicans. They include North Carolina, Georgia, Idaho and Alaska, Rico said.
The idea that Idaho hasn't historically had a large number of Mexican immigrants is just silly, at least as a percentage of the state's population. Makes me wonder about everything else the lady said.
Get over yourself, Friend. My great-grandparents came from Austria, and my great-grandfather made an effort to learn English, and to try to help other German-speaking immigrants.
My great-grandmother, on the other hand, never did learn English. And when my great-grandfather died young, of something he contracted working in a factory (and which would probably now be the subject of a class-action lawsuit), it was a real tragedy for her. She was completely dependent on her children (my grandfather and his siblings) and other people in her immigrant community. She was essentially helpless. She would have had a much easier time of things if she had been able to speak at least some English. To the end of his life my grandfather often spoke about how tragic his father's death was for his mother, and how isolated it left her. And the fact that she had never learned to speak English was a big part of it.
But that was then. Given all the mass-media today, a person would have to make a real effort in this country to isolate him- or herself from the sea of English that surrounds us. In 1912, when my great-grandfather died, there wasn't any radio, let alone television or sound movies. In addition, there are many more social-service agencies that make an effort to help immigrants learn English. I can understand the little old Italian or Polish ladies years ago, or women like my great-grandmother. They lived their whole lives in a little ethnic enclave. But never forget that they were effectively imprisoned in that enclave. Nowadays, I think people have to make a real effort not to pick up at least some English, or make a real effort to wall themselves up in such a hermetically-sealed ethnic cocoon that they can spend 15 years or more in this country without learning to speak passable English.
I have no sympathy either for the English-speaking women in Amsterdam who refuse to learn Dutch. I doubt that these are poor women living in an Anglophone ghetto; probably Americans and Brits who can't be bothered. (My father used to know people who worked in the international division of his company; he said that generally the husbands, who had jobs at the company branch in a foreign country, learned to speak the local language; their wives just associated with other American wives and never did.) I hope the Dutch aren't making their lives easier by catering to them in English. But then, given that most Dutch seem to speak better English than many Americans do, I suspect they find it simply easier to speak to them in English. That's sad.
Christmas is coming. Hand your sister-in-law a copy of Berlitz "Ingles sin maestro" or something similar and say "Feliz Navidad", or enroll her in some English classes. I'm sure she and her family will thank you. (Thirty years in this country without learning English?!? Good God! I mean, that must require real effort!)
As for whether I think I'm "too good" for them, well, I've reached a point in my life where I'm tired of making excuses for people who can't be bothered to help themselves, esp. when help is all around them. This isn't 1912 anymore; there are all sorts of tools available to help immigrants learn English. As a former non-English-speaking immigrant, Arnold Schwarzenegger, said to the Hispanic community in California a little while ago, it's time to turn off the Spanish television and learn English if you want things to be better for your kids.
This will come as nearly a great a shock to some here as my being a gay-Christian, but here goes.
Living between two cultures/languages, I had to learn my second language (that is, living, useful language, the academic languages of my profession don't count) as an adult. On the fly. Without time for years of study.
I mastered the language, passed the test to study in the language on the first try and never looked back.
OK, fine - for he who has mastered English, German and Latin, nothing can be that tough, and anyway, I am obviously not exactly poverty-stricken.
Good, I'll grant you that.
But my mother's grandfather, who was not well-educated, who was not wealthy and had to work, raise children (wife died in crossing the Atlantic) and was in his forties managed to learn English well enough to graduate from college with a B.A. at the age of 62.
His policy? In America, we speak English.
Basta.
I can understand wanting to keep one's culture and native tongue. The moment you cross that border, it is your duty, not that of your host country to learn the language. No excuses.
And yes, having been there and done it, I do know what I am talking about - I volunteer three days a week, teaching immigrants my native tongue at a private integration center. None of my students are younger than 18, many have to learn the Latin alphabet, none come from the Germanic or Romance language groups.
Our success rate is over 80% on the first try at the minimum language skills qualification test.
It can be done, it is done. Of course, it does mean that the mucho-macho Mexican men will have to accept women as their equals. Right, guess I just shot myself in the foot. Like that is ever going to happen.
I think this article is incorrect. Unless the economy in Mexico becomes better than ours in the US people will continue to come to this country illegally or legally in order to make a better life for themselves.
In Dominican Republic, which is a poor nation, there is the immigration problem of illegal Hatian immigrants crossing the border. In Puerto Rico there is the problem of illegal Dominican immigrants. If you are poor, you will go wherever you can to make a better life.
My opinion is that those immigrants that are here and chose to go back to their country cause they aren't being paid as much here as before have a nice little nest egg waiting for them in their country. Most immigrant's dream is to make it here, and then go back to their country.
I know this because my parents are struggling with a similar issue. Both of my parents are US citizens and own their home (no mortgage), my father (55 years old) has been unemployed since June '08 and my mother (51 years old) works for pittance at a fast food place. If they sold their home and took their savings they could return to the Dominican Republic and retire. They however would miss out on watching their grandchildren grow up, and would see their children 1-2 a year.
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December 15, 2008 10:52 AM
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