From: "Wrevcoleman@aol.com" <Wrevcoleman@aol.com>
Elvira Arellano column from October 1 in El diario


[quote]The Undocumented and the Economic Crisis


As I write this column I am preparing to go to Guatemala for the fourth international gathering I have been invited to attend concerned with the status of undocumented workers. I am also reading about the economic crisis in the United States. I am trying to formulate in my mind the relationship beween these two crises.

The first thing that comes to mind is that the same group of Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives that gave us the anti-immigrant Sensenbrenner bill and that blocked every effort at im migration reform also blocked the economic rescue plan and put the economies of the world in crisis.

Mexico’s economy has become so dependent on the U.S. economy and U.S. banks that “when the U.S. sneezes, Mexico gets pneumonia. Worsening conditions in Mexico will send more people to make the dangerous crossing to the north. It seems like those Congressional Republicans are following me back to Mexico, still trying to destroy my family.

I also recalled the day a group of us decided to buy a building in Chicago. [b]There were brokers everywhere. Many of the banks were advertising in the Laitno community explaining that we did not have to have a social security number to get a mortgage. All we needed was a steady job, a small down payment. The banks helped us apply for a “TINâ€