Thread: ‘Amnesty’ is not a dirty word

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‘Amnesty’ is not a dirty word
Altadena author Evelyn Cortez-Davis brings a voice to illegal immigrants

By Nikki Bazar


Photo by Victor B. Soto

As war in the Middle East casts its long shadow, domestic hot topics such as the immigration reform debate are being eclipsed, despite massive protests and a national “day without immigrants” just a few months ago. As government officials continue to debate over the fate of “illegal immigrants” — itself a blanket term encompassing people from many different countries, social classes and family backgrounds — the voices of those whose fate is decided by the outcome are getting harder and harder to hear through the din of partisan bickering and political rhetoric.

Last week, the Weekly contacted Altadena resident Evelyn Cortez-Davis to discuss her 2005 book, “December Sky: Beyond My Undocumented Life,” an account of her family’s migration to the United States from El Salvador in the 1980s. By sharing her own story, Cortez-Davis brings a definitive and singular voice to the very generally labeled illegal immigrants.

Cortez-Davis left her hometown at the age of 12 to begin the treacherous trek into the United States with her mother and three sisters, leaving her father behind in the hopes that he would soon follow. Along the way, the four women suffered the intimidation and thievery of corrupt immigration officers in Mexico, suspenseful waits for no-show coyotes in squalid hotel rooms and a darkly terrifying ride across the border in the trunk of a car.

Once in Los Angeles, young Cortez-Davis felt ashamed and alienated at her new school. “I felt distant,” she writes, “like these people could never relate to me. They probably had never drank coconut water, or eaten a real hand-made tortilla or a mango right off the tree.” She excelled at school and was even eventually accepted to UCLA, but lived in constant fear of her non-legal status.

Cortez-Davis became politically active in college, scrawling angry letters to the university newspaper in defense of undocumented students. “I was a self-proclaimed symbol,” she declares in the book, “a champion for the underdog in my community. I was living proof that the stereotypes clinging to me, waiting outside my door, were figments of the collective imagination and nothing more.”

The same motivation to defy stereotypes, blended with a desire to preserve her family’s rich history, produced “December Sky.” “The idea for my book was sparked when my nephews were toddlers,” says Cortez-Davis. “I figured/hoped that one day they might wonder how our entire family ended up here. … Once I started writing, it made no sense to discuss the trip without talking about why we left El Salvador. I also felt compelled to write about what happened once we arrived in LA, so my project kept growing.”

Cortez-Davis earned a degree in civil engineering from UCLA and today works as a project engineer at the LA Department of Water and Power. She says she hopes that her book will help people realize that “amnesty” is not a dirty word. “I hope we can acknowledge that the racially biased stereotypes of undocumented immigrants as portrayed by the media (and perpetuated by hate groups like the Minutemen) are NOT the only side of the story. My most heartfelt wish is that my US-born family and the children of all immigrants will find pride in their roots and that they will recognize the potential in all people to achieve their dreams.”

In light of the recently roiling debates, the Weekly asked Cortez-Davis a few questions about her own feelings on immigration reform, including House Resolution 4437 sponsored by Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, that defines illegal immigrants as felons, and the Senate’s more comprehensive S2611 sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter, which includes paths to citizenship for illegal immigrants. The House and the Senate are currently working on a compromise between the two bills.

Pasadena Weekly: What do you think of S.2611 passed by the Senate?

Evelyn Cortez-Davis: I think it’s probably as good as it’s going to get if we get anything close to 2611. I think there are still a lot of questionable things about it, but it’s certainly going to be a challenge for 2611 to be reconciled with HR4437. HR4437 had nothing to address the very human problems that we’re talking about here. We’re talking about families that may have been here for 15 years that have American citizen-born children who have lived nowhere but this country, and we’re talking about separating them if HR4437 were to pass.

Which parts of HR4437 do you find the most egregious?

I think the whole thing is preposterous because it is feeding on the fear of this national security issue; the fact that every civil liberty that we’ve got has been almost wiped clean because of the fear that there might be terrorists behind the next door or across the border trying to sneak in. What I think most people were up in arms about was making felons out of anyone that wants to help [immigrants]. How can you make a felon out of somebody that provides housing assistance or counseling or a priest that provides food to somebody who is in need? There is no acknowledgment of the fact that these are actual human beings; they are actual families and the economy of the United States actually really does need them.

What do you think will happen in a few months or so, when the attempts to compromise the two bills are made?

I’d like to be optimistic and think there are going to be meaningful dialogues and the House representatives are going to listen to their constituents, because I don’t think they were really listening before HR4437 was passed in December of last year. … What I think is going to happen, because it’s an election year, is they are going to try and stick to their guns. A lot of federal government representatives, whoever they may be and whatever party they may be from, are really afraid to take a stand because it might cost them the next election, and I think they’re right.

It seemed many people were upset at protesters waving non-American flags at the protests. What’s your opinion of the matter?

In the mainstream media, it seemed that they were latching on to the one Mexican flag that was there, or maybe to the one incident with a high school student being involved in a fight. That’s what they were reporting on. They weren’t reporting on the fact that at the May 1 downtown LA march there were a million people there and there was no violence, and that most people there were carrying American flags and there was a concerted effort to make sure that was the case.

Do you think that people leaving their home countries in search of a better life affects the possibility of improvement in those countries?

These are folks that wouldn’t be in a position to feel like they can change their country. I think these are folks that are very poor, that don’t have a lot of access to the political process in their country if there is one. … In many of these countries, it really still is the poor being oppressed by the rich. There’s always going to be, in a capitalistic society, a need for the poor to stay poor. That really is at the core of what we’re talking about here. There is a need for these people in these other countries to continue to contribute to our economy in the way that they do: by working in sweatshops, by having child labor and by protecting the corporations that choose to go outside so that they can have a better bottom line. You cannot separate immigration from this because this is why people are coming here. We’re experiencing the symptom; we’re not experiencing the problem.

What! This is such a bunch of hogwash. Cortez illegally immigrated 26 years ago and most likely received amnesty in '86. Hun, if your family immigrated today it would be so easy in comparison. I'm sure of it. One little anchor baby and they would be rolling in the benefits. Also, you would be receiving a special education on the American tax payers.

Get real! Don't even try to make illegal immigration look difficult, noble or for that matter justify it.

Cortez, still isn't a real American, despite all the benefits she has received. I think she is ungrateful. She didn't even defend this country when asked about the foreign flags being waved around. Cortez is an OLB crony.

Dixie

the fact that every civil liberty that we’ve got has been almost wiped clean because of the fear that there might be terrorists behind the next door or across the border trying to sneak in

Name just ONE civil liberty you've lost!!! Just ONE! What an idiot! We can't afford to be WRONG about terrorists! If there is a 1% chance a terrorist might sneak across the border, we must treat it like it was a 100% chance. There is too much at stake! This poor person is an ungrateful "illegal" in my eye. I don't care what her papers say! You can take a illegal out of the Third World, but you can't take the Third World out of the illegal! These sob stories are sickening! I just don't care anymore, because you people have worn me down to that point! Having to move from my home,of 6 years,because I could no longer stand the noise, the total disregard for the rules and the arrogant attitudes, the drug dealers, the child molester arrested in my building, etc. I have NO sympathy anymore! I will never accept any illegal that is given amnesty. That is NOT the way you become an American. That is the way you are given papers so you can go out and rale against America and it's true citizens and milk everything you can from the system. You will NEVER be Americans, because you do NOT know what the word means!

I welcome anyone that comes legally and understands what laws and rules are. I will be your friend, your neighbor and respect you. Otherwise, GET OUT OF MY COUNTRY!

We’re talking about families that may have been here for 15 years that have American citizen-born children who have lived nowhere but this country, and we’re talking about separating them if HR4437 were to pass.

The separation of family argument the pro-illegal activists likes to keep using is a myth. No one is advocating or insisting on separation of family. The fact is: the entire family, anchor babies and all, are welcome to leave together.

I need help on this. Either I'm not paying attention or this chick is the one not paying attention. I thought the U.S. is a capitalistic society?

She's not paying attention......or does she know what's she is talking about. U.S. is the epitomy of capitalism!

There’s always going to be, in a capitalistic society, a need for the poor to stay poor.

This is not true, if the society is free. A free capitalistic society gives th poor the opportunity to get as wealthy as they want to be, if they work at it.

Thanks gofer. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't mistaken because she seems very confused.

Sadly, the fact is as long as we have illegals in our country the rich can hang onto more cash and get richer!!!!!! We are up aginst the rich lobbiest's and the rich families of politicians!!!