Thread: Immigrant workers' families struggling in wake of S.A. raid

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/ ... e745b.html


Immigrant workers' families struggling in wake of S.A. raid

Web Posted: 06/21/2006 12:00 AM CDT
Hernán Rozemberg and Sean Mattson
Express-News Staff Writers

Her voice on the phone was drowned out by the wailing baby boy cradled in her arms.

"Tata, tata?" the baby asked, his voice rising with each call. "Yeye?"

The San Antonio mother barely could hold back tears as she told her 2-year-old son that the man on the phone was neither "tata," his father, nor "yeye," his grandfather.

Neither José nor Gerardo Ortiz have been back to the house since April 19, when they were startled by immigration agents raiding IFCO Systems, the crate and pallet construction company where they had worked for years.

The result of an unprecedented yearlong investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement into Houston-based IFCO, the raid netted nearly 1,200 undocumented workers at more than 40 of the company's plants in 26 states.

More than 200 were rounded up in Texas, including 27 in San Antonio.

The sudden disappearance of their breadwinners has left families stranded.

"I'm alone. I'm all alone," said the 22-year-old mother with the baby keenly paying attention to the phone. She agreed to be interviewed only on condition of anonymity, citing her own vulnerability as an undocumented immigrant.

Her husband, Gerardo Ortiz, had worked at IFCO for nine years, and her father-in-law, José, for five. Sent back to Mexico, they joined several other workers in returning to San Angel, a subsistence farming community of around 100 families in the central state of Michoacán.

It's easy to understand why they left the village in the first place.

The cluster of modest adobe homes lacks electricity. Education is an afterthought — a two-room middle school is typically the end of the road because it's too costly to send children out of town to the nearest high school

The elder Ortiz decided to stay in Mexico for the corn harvest — hoping to earn about $2,500 in six months, compared with about $13,000 he'd make at IFCO. But Gerardo Ortiz decided to try to rejoin his wife and children back in San Antonio.

But nearly a month after he left San Angel, nobody has heard from him, which only exacerbates his wife's mounting worries.

A traditional stay-at-home mom, she has been left to manage on her own with her two babies, the 2-year-old and a 2-month-old — both U.S. citizens thanks to their birthplace.

She said that even if she could find somebody to look after the children, she couldn't work because of the looming risk of having to leave them behind if she is caught and sent back to Mexico.

About a month after the raids, she had around $2,000 left from the couple's savings. She is clueless on what she'll do after the money's gone.

Another stranded homemaker also haplessly pondered her future.

The ultimate decision, she said, would be whether to try to make the situation work here or regress to a simpler yet poorer life back in Mexico, potentially dashing her dreams of a better future for her children.

The mother of four — ages 4, 8, 12 and 14 — felt at home in San Antonio. After all, it was her husband, Rogelio, who ushered the wave of émigrés from San Angel to the Alamo City 14 years ago when he began working at IFCO.

She said at least nine families eventually settled here through the IFCO pipeline created by her husband.

Kirby Schneider, general manager of the IFCO plant on the Northeast Side, said the company is investigating how the undocumented workers got their jobs and expects to fully recover from the raid.

To prevent other undocumented workers from getting jobs, Schneider said he must double-check job applicants' immigration status with authorities before hiring them now, but he has been able to refill about 80 percent of the jobs vacated by the arrested workers.

Nobody knows how many families were left behind by the raid or where they're living.

"All of a sudden, the sky fell on us, completely flattening our lives," the mother of four said, noting the raid took place two weeks after she had liver surgery. "No matter what happens, the damage has been done — our family has been torn apart."

She said that to pay rent, she found a job cleaning houses five days a week.

She and other families were offered help from San Antonio officials, but rumors of additional raids created such a palpable fear in the undocumented immigrant community that most passed up the free assistance.

Dennis Campa, the city's director of community initiatives, organized meetings for the families to offer them benefits, including a month's rent or mortgage, help in paying utility bills and free child care.

"They're here, they're residents of this city and we want them to plan a future here," Campa said. "We want to help them get into the mainstream."

Apparently, the families don't. Their small community appears to be fraying.

Nine people attended the first meeting, walking away with San Antonio Food Bank baskets. Nobody showed up at the second gathering, and the city has not heard from the families since.

Even the haphazardly appointed leader of the stranded families, another mother of four, has found keeping tabs on the other wives too difficult — they won't answer or return calls.

Her own situation was stressful enough. To end her boyfriend's miserable exile, she decided to risk imprisonment for both by bringing him back to San Antonio.

After the IFCO raid, she said, Daniel found refuge in a ramshackle apartment formerly inhabited by drug dealers in a rough area of Nuevo Laredo, the Mexican border city known for its skyrocketing murder rate as rival drug dealers duel for turf.

With little money and deteriorating health, she said, Daniel was a victim of an attempted mugging a month ago. His attacker pushed a gun against his cheek, then fled after he collapsed.

Already struggling with how best to help him, the girlfriend said a second trip to the hospital two days later left her with no choice: She had to get Daniel home to San Antonio, where he'd be safe and have access to better health care.

She put him in her car and crossed an international bridge into Laredo. Had federal officers discovered Daniel's undocumented status, they both would have ended up imprisoned.

"We're still nervous to this day, but at least we're at peace at home, all of us back together," she said. "One has to do whatever it takes when it comes to family."

It's a sentiment shared by frustrated former IFCO workers now back in San Angel, toiling as poor farmers.

Sheer necessity may have put them in San Angel fields, several said, but fate tells them it won't be long before they're back on San Antonio streets.

After all, though money is important, emotions play just as big a role.

In his IFCO-issued overalls with his last name embroidered on one side and a "Texas Pallet San Antonio" label on the other, José Ortiz, 59, missed home after a hard day's work.

In San Angel, there's no baby grandson yearning for his "yeye."



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hrozemberg@express-news.net

Hernán Rozemberg reported from San Antonio and Sean Mattson reported from San Angel, Mexico.


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Oooohh! Boo hoo hoo and hoo!! My heart is breaking.......NOOOOOOOT!!!!

If you do the crime, you assume the risks of getting caught.


You bring your family illegaly into a country, put them at risk of being brokeng up, put them at risk of someone, everyone getting arrested and deported, you also assume the cost

My country didn't hurt you.

You hurt your family by breaking the law.

You hurt your family by being illegal aliens in a foreign country.

You hurt your family, not me!

You assume the risks of being a criminal, now YOU can pay the price.

There are no special cases here, illegal is illegal you should have thought of these situation before you came here. You broke our laws and are now paying the price for your lawlessness. Go back to Mexico and you will not have to live in fear of being deported anymore. You will not have to suffer the breaking up of your families. You will not have to hide in the shadows anymore.

Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Boo Hoo.

Many in the press should be hung out to dry.

About a month after the raids, she had around $2,000 left from the couple's savings. She is clueless on what she'll do after the money's gone.

How's this for a suggestion. Don't wait until the money is gone, take it out of the bank today and buy a one way bus ticket for yourself and the children back to Mexico. You should be ashamed of keeping your children separated from their yee-yee.

My first thought exactly, go back to Mexico A lot of us our struggling as well but we have to obey the laws because we are citizens and not illegals. Hell, we all would like a better life so we bust our butts and do the best we can

To prevent other undocumented workers from getting jobs, Schneider said he must double-check job applicants' immigration status with authorities before hiring them now, but he has been able to refill about 80 percent of the jobs vacated by the arrested workers.

Wait! I am confused. How did they manage to fill all those positions? I thought these were jobs Americans would not do?

Quit your belly aching and go back to where ever you invaded from

When your child is older tell him or her, how you ALL broke the law and came here illegally and that is why Tata or Yeye is not there with you .

I honestly do not feel bad for these invaders.

Why doesn't Ted Kennedy help these people ,He has plenty of money and wants them here . I find hypocrisy to be revolting !