HodgBlog

I recently read a book called The Middle of Everywhere, by Mary Pipher. In it, Ms. Pipher shares stories of refugees who were settled in Lincoln, Nebraska over the past 10-20 years.

Many of the stories Ms. Pipher shared in her book were somewhat familiar to me — I’ve traveled a lot, I make an effort to follow the international news, and here in Seattle I have a lot of contact with immigrants in my volunteer work (teaching English as a Second Language and Spanish-English interpreting). Certainly, all immigrants have some things in common: they have to adjust to a new culture, in many cases a new language, and often a completely different job from what they did before. But this book focuses on refugees, who have additional difficulties, such as mental health issues arising from their history of being subject to war, political persecution, death threats, and the like in their home countries. So, as I read the stories in this book, at times I thought that the refugees it describes had little in common with the immigrants I normally come in contact with. But really, the differences are not as large as I thought at first. Even immigrants who lack official refugee status (it’s pretty hard to get) may have been persecuted at home for their beliefs, gender, or membership in an ethnic group, or may be trying to leave a country at war. Some of the women and children who come here are escaping domestic violence. And even the average undocumented Mexican immigrant worker has probably come here to work because he didn’t have any chance of making a living wage at home. All of these types of immigrants have a lot in common with refugees, in that they came here because they felt they really had no choice.

So, I really think this book is relevant and important for everyone living in a more privileged country to read. It is also well-written, and even though many of the stories might make us uncomfortable, we still need to know about them.

No comments yet: add one »

On February 11th, 2008, over 1000 people from over 70 countries, all of whom now live in the state of Washington, visited Olympia (our state capitol) for the second annual Refugee and Immigrant Legislative Day. I decided to take a day off work and attend. Here are some observations from the day:

• The schedule for the day: a bus trip to Olympia, a rally, some time to visit legislators, and a bus trip back.
• The legislative agenda for the trip: improve programs that help immigrants become citizens, housing assistance, English as a Second Language classes with child care and transportation included, and better programs for immigrant children in the public schools.
• The parts of this legislative agenda that I feel strongest about are the educational components. For instance, in my volunteer work (teaching English to adults, interpreting between Spanish-speaking immigrants and social service agencies, and helping out with various school and after-school programs for children), I have met many adults who have difficulties attending ESL classes, due to scheduling, transportation, and child care issues. Yet learning the language is a key determinant of well-being among adult immigrants, so I feel it is important to improve access to ESL classes for immigrants. The issue of education for their children is also crucial, and our schools are generally failing to educate children who arrive as English-language learners — the schools do not currently have the resources to overcome the barriers that these children face (lack of grade-level educational background prior to arrival, reading/speaking English at far below grade level, difficulties for teachers in communicating with parents, and less parental academic support because the parents also may lack English skills and/or educational background).
• At the rally, there were many inspirational words, mostly about how much immigrants matter to our state. One speaker, an immigrant from Korea who is now a state representative in the legislature, addressed the crowd and said, “Some day, maybe one of your children might become the President of the United States” (this made me think of Barack Obama, who is the son of an immigrant). Another speaker used the analogy of our country being a “tapestry” of people — each person a single thread, easily broken, different colors and sizes; together a strong and beautiful fabric.
• After the rally, we were encouraged to visit our state representatives. I went to see Maralyn Chase, one of my two representatives in the state House, and had a long conversation with her about the issues. She seemed very receptive, and very interested in my experiences and observations, as well as the legislative agenda papers I gave her. I felt like that conversation made the trip worthwhile.
• Sometime during my conversation with Representative Chase, I said that I wasn’t sure how things really got done in the legislature, and she said “This is how things get done” (referring to our conversation). I realized at that moment that I was lobbying my representative: trying to convince her to support a certain legislative agenda. So I am now a lobbyist!
• When our bus returned to the Literacy Source (the agency where I have been teaching ESL), the program coordinator congratulated me on moving from just being a volunteer service provider to being an activist, which has fewer negative connotations than the word lobbyist… but I still say that I am a lobbyist.
• Although the trip was short (we left after the morning rush hour, and returned before the evening rush hour, so there wasn’t a lot of time actually spent in Olympia), I thought it was very worthwhile. I hope that most of the people who went had the opportunity to talk, one-on-one or in small groups, with their elected representatives — although the rally was good for inspiration, I don’t think it was likely to accomplish much, on its own. In my opinion, the lobbying time was the most worthwhile part of the trip.
• I heard recently on the news that our governor had signed a new bill establishing a state-wide panel to study the situation of immigrants, in regards to what services they have and what services they need. This seems like a good idea. It apparently came about through lobbying by the organizers of the trip I participated in, probably partly as a result of last year’s lobbying efforts, but it was a nice coincidence coming so soon after this year’s trip.
• Maybe next year, rather than spending all that time on the bus, and standing in the rain at a rally, we could all visit our representatives during the part of the year when the legislature is not in session. The representatives would have more time (for instance, my state senator was not available the day we were there, and the two state house members were pretty busy with meetings), and we wouldn’t have to spend time driving to Olympia, because the legislators would be at their offices in our districts (no more than a few miles from home). Though probably, without the buses and the rally, not too many of us would actually make the effort to do it (for instance, I have rarely even written or called my representatives before now)…. So, the Olympia trip was probably the right way to do this, after all.

2 Comments »

In my volunteer work (teaching English to adult immigrants and Spanish-English interpreting), I come in contact with a lot of immigrants — some are here legally, and some are not. Illegal immigration has also been in the news a lot lately, so I find myself thinking about the subject frequently. When I hear what our so-called leaders are saying about illegal immigration, I get frustrated, because I don’t think they’re thinking constructively. So, I decided I’d better get my own thoughts together.

Facts and Statistics

• According to the Pew Hispanic Center, there were about 11 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S., as of March 2005, which is about 3.8% of the total U.S. population.
• Of the 11 million estimated illegal immigrants living in the U.S., again according to the Pew Hispanic Center, about 7.2 million of them are working illegally, amounting to 5% of the U.S. workforce.
• The most common industries for illegal immigrants in the U.S. are construction (1.4 million illegal workers, or 12% of the workforce) and “leisure and hospitality” (1.2 million illegal workers, or 10% of the workforce).
• The median earnings of illegal workers are around $400 per week for men, and less (I am not sure how much less) for women.

Observations

• Basic economics (and logic) tells us that people make decisions based on benefits to themselves. So, who is benefiting from illegal immigrant labor?
  • The businesses that hire illegal workers are benefiting. Clearly, if businesses could hire legal residents at the same total cost (considering salary, benefits, hours, and productivity) as illegal workers, they would hire the workers with papers, to avoid legal problems. So, the illegal workers must be working for lower wages than legal residents would, doing work that legal residents would not do, or working under conditions that legal residents would not tolerate.
  • The illegal workers are benefiting. Typical workers I have met say they came here because they had very little chance of finding work of any type in Mexico, and literally no way to live without work (i.e. not many social services, food banks, soup kitchens, etc.). Here, they can find some work, and they say that even if they are living on the streets of Seattle (many do), their life here is better than what they had available at home: at least they will not starve if they have to go a week or two without working. The people I’ve met who have families here, especially the women, are an inspiration for their dedication to improving their lives and the lives of their children.
  • There are some costs offsetting the benefits. For the illegal workers, these include the cost to get here (hiring someone to convey them across the border, risking life in desert crossings, etc.) and the risk of deportation. For businesses, they include the risk of fines and bad publicity if they are discovered hiring illegal workers. But the fact that we currently have 7 million illegal workers means that these costs must be much lower than the benefits for these two groups.
• This situation is not new. Illegal immigrants have been coming here for decades, mostly from Mexico, and there has been ample work for them for decades. The risk of being discovered and deported has seldom or never been high enough to discourage people from coming here to work; the risk of fines has seldom or never been high enough for businesses to stop using illegal immigrant labor.
• The public in the U.S. is asking for solutions to the “problem” of illegal immigration. But the politicians (funded by business interests) are not offering effective solutions on a scale that would make any difference, any more than they have for the last few decades. Here are the options that I think could actually reduce the number of illegal immigrant workers:
  • The most reliable and humane way to do so would be to improve conditions in Mexico and Central America. If all Mexicans had real options for a good life at home, they wouldn’t come so far from their families and familiar settings to work illegally here — the net benefit would no longer outweigh the cost.
  • We could also erase the advantage businesses gain by hiring illegal workers: make sure that illegal workers have the same salary, benefits, and workplace protections that legal workers do, or give them legal status.
  • The other option is to increase enforcement by a lot (deportations of workers or fines to businesses) to increase the economic costs to businesses or workers.
• The other question is whether illegal immigrant labor is a problem at all. I do not think it is a problem that the workers are working here to improve their lives. But they experience problems due to the fact that they are living and working here illegally, such as constant fear, lowered social status, and loss of employment rights. It’s not a particularly easy life, and it doesn’t seem right that people who are merely trying to improve their lives, and who are also contributing to our economy, should have to live that way.

8 Comments »

I have been thinking lately about the U.S. economy, and how it is related to poverty. Here are some thoughts:

• Many people in this country are living in poverty (see my previous article on homelessness for more detailed analysis). Some of these people are unable to work, due to physical disability, mental illness, or other factors. But many of them are working in jobs which do not earn them enough to meet the basic needs of housing, food, and health care for themselves and their families.
• Many people are living and working in this country illegally. The ones I am most aware of come here, mainly from Mexico, because they have very few opportunities for employment at home, and hope they will have a better life here. And although their life here seems very difficult by my standards, they generally say that it is much better than it would be back home.
• People in both of these categories (the working poor and the illegally employed) are staffing our fast food restaurants and grocery stores, picking our fruits and vegetables, cleaning our office buildings and hotels, and working in low-skilled manufacturing jobs. Presumably, if the illegally employed were sent home, and the working poor earned enough to live on, prices would be higher. Though perhaps that would be offset by lower taxes, as we would presumably have less need for Medicaid, Food Stamps, Welfare, Section 8, and other programs where government agencies take care of some of the basic needs of the working poor.
• Overseas, the inexpensive goods we import are being produced in ways that would not be legal here: with child labor, long workdays and work weeks, low wages, and large environmental impact. These practices also keep our prices down.

To me, it is clear that the social and environmental cost of our low prices is too high. What I am less clear about is how to reduce the social and environmental costs, and what effect it would have on our economy. I think I need to do some reading…

1 Comment »