Immigration has a human face

the persistent dehumanization of the immigration issue makes me furious, and this la times story gives me goosebumps... i have been, done and seen much of what it describes, including having a very close friend who, after three tries to get across the border, finally made it, only to die in a car accident in kansas while working construction with his brother, leaving his wife and a four year-old daughter - my goddaughter - back in mexico to fend for themselves...

and it's not only the dehumanization, it's the characterization of illegal immigrants as criminals, drug pushers and terrorists... sure, some may be, but i think the incidence of those types in the immigrant population is no more, and probably less, than the population at large...

Angelica Salas, who graduated in 1993, was back for another degree — this time an honorary doctorate. Her parents were in the audience last Sunday, standing and applauding proudly as she entered the hillside theater.

They had come to the United States illegally roughly 40 years ago out of economic desperation. They made a life, became legalized and raised a family.

And now their 36-year-old daughter Angelica, smuggled into the country by an aunt at age 5, was being called up to the podium by Dean Eric M. Frank, who spoke of her work to convince both Democrats and Republicans that the immigration system is badly broken.

[...]

Her job is to tell stories, Salas told me. It's not as easy for people to stand back and scream after they've heard a story and made a connection.

[...]

But Salas believes the tone of the debate has been and will continue to be changed by humanizing it.

the article's author, steve lopez, shares some powerful stories of his own...

I know she's right. I know because of the gardener who was shot in the chest on a job in Inglewood and returned the next day because he'd promised the homeowner he'd be done by Christmas.

I know because of the Mid-City school volunteer who lives in a cramped one-bedroom apartment with her children. If I went and saw the impoverished Mexican village she came from, she told me, I'd understand why she was so happy. So I did, and I do.

and here's angelica's story...

Serefino Salas, a broad-shouldered young man hungry for work in the 1960s, came to the United States from Durango, Mexico, in the bracero program. He later sneaked back to work at a Los Angeles laundromat, followed by many years as a racetrack groomer.

Rosie Astorga came shortly after her husband did and worked in the garment industry, while relatives in Mexico cared for Angelica and her sisters Rosa and Nidia.

Angelica doesn't recall much about being smuggled across the border, escorted by a 14-year-old aunt. But she remembers getting caught, being sent back and making it through on her next try. After two years of separation, the whole family was together, but it didn't last.

"My mother's factory was raided," says Angelica, who recalls her father searching for help after his wife was deported.

Salas discovered that because his wife had given birth to a son while living in Los Angeles, the child was a citizen and they could all become legalized under a program in place at the time.

Today, everyone in the family is a success, most of them living in Pasadena. Instead of being kept in the shadows at minimum-wage jobs, with no chance to improve their lot or make a bigger contribution, Salas became a roofer, Mrs. Salas is a hospital janitor, Rosa is a fifth-grade teacher, Nidia works in production for HBO and Serefino Jr. is a groundskeeper at Dodger Stadium.

angelica is absolutely correct... it's knowing about people like this that will make the immigration debate a human one, which, after all, is what it should have been in the first place...

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