Recession hikes immigration aid
Slows checks sent home

February 5, 2009
By RYAN PAGELOW rpagelow@scn1.com

It's been a year since 48-year-old Pedro Garcia of Waukegan last sent money home to his 87-year-old mother in Tonatico, Mexico.

The factory where he works cut back his hours, so he has less income to support his family of five here in Waukegan.



Linda Gonzalez of Round Lake, a customer service clerk at Supermercado Gonzalez on Grand Avenue in Waukegan, helps Santos Zelaya of Waukegan wire money to his four children in Honduras via Western Union.
(Thomas Delany, Jr./News-Sun)

"We used to send money each month, but now, no. You can't," Garcia said. "We have commitments here."

It's the same with his two sisters who also live in the area, one of whom recently lost her job.

As the U.S. recession deepens, Garcia is among a wave of immigrants who have cut back on what they send home -- resulting in the first annual decline in remittances to Mexico since the country's central bank began keeping track of payments 13 years ago.

Money sent from immigrants working in the U.S. to their home countries is Mexico's second-largest source of foreign income after oil.

The funding source dropped 3.6 percent to $25 billion in 2008 compared to $26 billion for the previous year, according to a recent report from the central bank.

In the 27 years Garcia has lived in the United States, he said he's never seen it this bad. But he is not considering returning to Mexico, where he also owns a home, because his children were raised here and the global recession has hit Mexico just as bad.

"For me, it's better here," he said.

Organizations that assist immigrants have seen the number of clients swell recently as they seek job referrals and aid.

"My numbers have increased tremendously over the last four or five months," said Guadalupe Zepeda, a case manager at Mano a Mano Family Resource Center in Round Lake Park.

For example, in November and December the organization saw 180 clients seeking employment referrals, up from 140 during the same time last year. The number of legal permanent residents seeking help filling out applications for food stamps or Medicaid was 314 people in the past six months, on par to surpass last year's 12-month total of 511 applications.

"More than half of the clients that come in have lost their job or have reduced hours of income," Zepeda said.

Despite the economic downturn, Santos Zelaya, 44, of Waukegan, and his wife still manage to send money each month to their four children living with their uncle and grandfather in Olancho, Honduras. But Zelaya estimates he now sends about 30 percent less than he did two years ago because the car warehouse company where they both work has downsized and cut employee hours.

"Before, I used to work 10 hours a day, six days a week," Zelaya said. "Now, I work eight hours, five days a week. And we recently had 20 days of time off with no work."

Because of the cutbacks, he lost his home last year. Still, he said it's better here than in Honduras where a day's work will earn you $5.

He's lived here for the past 10 years under temporary protected status, which the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offered Hondurans following the devastating hurricanes in the 1990s. Zelaya hopes to one day bring his four children, ages 11 to 17, to the United States, if he can find a way to get them legal residency.

"They ask me every day," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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