http://www.postindependent.com/article/ ... S/60130002

Money, opportunity lure immigrants to Colorado, and many stay on


By Brady McCombs
Greeley Tribune
January 30, 2006

Sitting in his downtown Greeley apartment, Francisco Montes feels a lifetime away from his hometown on the Pacific Ocean in El Salvador.

Montes often daydreams about his favorite spot on the beach, where he would spend his free days listening to the waves break on the sand and leaves rustle in the wind as he dozed off in his hammock.

Montes is no prisoner. He knows he could be back at the spot in a less than a week if he decided. But it’s not that simple.

If he goes home, he’ll leave behind a construction job that pays four times as much as he could make at home, and a wealth of opportunities not available in El Salvador for his two small children who were born here.

Montes faces the same dilemma as millions of foreign-born in the U.S.: make money while living in a culture, language and climate sometimes uncomfortable to them, or return home to their comfort zone and live in poverty.

“I’m not here because I like it,â€