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Illegal immigrant believes he has a right to live in U.S.
By HINA ALAM The Lufkin Daily News
Monday, May 08, 2006

Five years ago, around 8 o'clock one night, he crossed the river in a car.

A fence separated Mexico from the U.S. The checkpoint was about half a mile away. He walked across the bridge and reached the fence, hiding from the authorities who guarded the border. He climbed the nearly 30-foot-high fence and jumped to the other side. He walked another 30 minutes and there was a car waiting for him with two "coyotes" — people who help other people cross the border. For a few thousand dollars, they would take him to Corpus Christi, then to Lufkin.

He could start living the American dream.

On the other side of that river, he left behind a life in which he earned $3 a week. One in which he had to choose between eating two square meals a day or buying a pair of trousers. One in which he could not afford to give his family even the basic necessities.

Pablo bought a green card for about $80 at a market in Houston. He also bought a Social Security number and a driver's license.

With that identity, he got a job at Pilgrim's Pride. He's been working there for five years now, ever since he came to the United States.

He has realized his dream.

A couple of years ago he bought a three-bedroom house. He bought cars and vans.

And though it might seem like a bed of roses now, it did not come easy.

Pablo works seven days a week for about eight to 10 hours each day. Because of his fake documents, he has to live in the shadows.

He has it all, and yet he does not.

He pays his taxes, but he gets no tax returns.

That is what he wants.

He wants to be a part of this country. He wants to respect its laws, he says.

"Illegal? As a human being we have a right to survive in this world,” he says, “by working and becoming a part of this country.

“Give us insurance for car, for life, for medicine ... give us a work permit or amnesty. We want to be legal. We are already here. We're underpaid and that's not fair. We did not come here expecting help from the government, we came here just expecting a job and to be legal.

“We're not fighting, just asking for our rights as human beings. Tell those people who are against illegals that we have worked for five years in the U.S. for Americans. We have paid bills; we never broke any laws. We are trying to do all the right things ... we are trying to do most of the right things.

“We know we are illegal. We want to fight, work and die for this country. We want to be a part of this country — badly."

His sister and her family are still in Mexico. They are unable to eat and are sick. But it is difficult for them to come here.

"It has become very risky,” Pablo says. “They would have to escape the Minutemen, the immigration authorities and other citizens who are policing the border. It is becoming more and more difficult to get Social Security cards and green cards. It is not as easy as it was about two years ago."

The Social Security numbers and green cards are usually based on the identities of real people, taken from information on the Internet. And it is easy to forge an identity, Pablo says. If a person is lucky, he gets away with it, but if that identity shows up as the person's to whom it actually belongs, then the employer directs the immigrant to the Social Security office.

"It is becoming harder,” Pablo says. “Employers are checking all IDs. Not like five years ago ..."

In spite of this, he says, if people want to come here, then it must be because this country has more to offer. They are coming here for a better life, a better education for their children, Pablo says.

At the end of the day, he says, "We want to be free in a free country."

Hina Alam's e-mail address is halam@coxnews.com.