The Price of Immigration for Bread for the World
Part of my work as multimedia manager at Bread for the World involves producing poverty- and hunger-related stories that humanize these issues. It’s not easy. I think people suffer from ennui when it comes to seeing pictures and reading stories about poor and hungry people. It’s like, “Oh, another hungry child. Another poor, homeless man. I feel so bad.” And then people move on.
The response has been different with “The Price of Immigration,” a story that I worked on earlier this year with my colleagues Molly Marsh, Ivone Guillen and freelance multimedia editor Brad Horn. The idea was to show the life of an undocumented Mexican worker in the United States – to show that he is a real person with real dreams, hopes and feelings.
The immigration dialogue in the United States tends to characterize undocumented workers as unwanteds who steal American jobs and must be kept out with a border fence. In most cases, these people have come to the United States because they couldn’t support themselves or their families back home. A border fence will not prevent them from trying to help their families. Just think: If the United States were plunged into poverty and Canada loomed as a source of jobs – any jobs – wouldn’t many Americans do whatever they could to get to Canada and make money to support their families back home?
My colleagues and I spent five days getting to know “Jose,” the main subject of this story. It was challenging to photograph and film him in a way that didn’t reveal his identity. There are several photographs and video clips that made it into the final edit but I had to exchange out at the last minute because some of my co-workers thought they could identify “Jose.” From the day I started researching this story to the day I published this video was almost four months. It takes time to produce a good story. I think this one is pretty good. Though, of course, there are quite a few things I’d do differently. But that’s for another blog post on another day.
What follows is my original text that ran with the video on Bread for the World’s blog.
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Jose likes soccer. He likes his car. And he loves his family, which is why he left Mexico for the United States when he was 17, started working, and now sends home about 20 percent of his pay to support them. Like many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, Jose came here for opportunities that don’t exist at home.
“We’re not criminals,” said Jose (not his real name). “We just come here to seek a better life.”
Indeed, economic necessity is the reason people risk their lives to work in the United States. And contrary to rhetoric that immigrants steal American jobs and drive down wages, immigrant labor is essential to the U.S. economy, as research shows:
- The Arizona economy would shrink by $48.8 billion, or 20 percent, if all undocumented workers left the state, according to an Immigration Policy Center study out last week.
- Immigration improves employment, productivity, and income but needs adjustments that respond to the economic cycle, states a 2010 Migration Policy Institute study.
- Hispanic immigrants contributed $9.2 billion to the North Carolina economy in 2006 and created 89,000 spinoff jobs, according to research by Dr. James Johnson, professor at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan Flagler Business School.
Jose is one Hispanic immigrant contributing to North Carolina’s economy. He moved there five years ago, found a job, and joined a church. My colleagues Ivone Guillen, Molly Marsh, and I first met Jose at his church this past January, and we found him to be very kind, polite, and open to talking with us. We could tell he missed his family. He showed us pictures. He shared stories of life back home.
Listening to Jose speak and watching him live his limited life in North Carolina (we spent five days with him), you just think to yourself, “You don’t leave people you love unless you must, because economic and social circumstances force you to go.”
Thinking Day | A cross-cultural food experience
One of my best memories of being a Girl Scout in Jeddah was celebrating Thinking Day. This was when Girl Scouts and Girl Guides from other countries living in the city got together for one big hoe-down. Okay, not exactly a hoe-down, but one big cultural exchange.
The day began with a procession of scouts from each country carrying that country’s flag. I always wanted to carry the United States flag. I thought it would be fun to march around in my green uniform and hold the flag straight up. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t drop it. I never got to find out. Instead, I sat on my school gym floor with hundreds of other scouts as groups of girls glided by with flags, including those of India, the United Kingdom, France, Pakistan, the United States and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Girl Scouts fascinated me the most as they appeared to have run to the fabric store and wrapped themselves in bolts of gray cloth from head to toe. Well, except their faces, thank goodness.
What does any of this have to do with these photographs here, apparently taken in the present time, at my present home, without anyone wearing a Girl Scout uniform? (Though that would be kind of cool.) Well, Thinking Day also involved food. And the other night, as Dulce (from Mexico), Ting-Ya (from Taiwan) and I (half from South Korea), cooked foods from our countries, I remembered Thinking Day. How lucky am I that more than 20 years later, I keep having interesting cross-cultural experiences with my friends?
Ting-Ya showed us the massive amounts of preparation that go into creating a Taiwanese dish. I showed them how to make kimbap. Pictured above is the very first one I’ve ever made without my Mom’s assistance. And Dulce made an American salad with ingredients all the colors of Mexico’s flag. Now I’m thinking of throwing a Thinking Day-type dinner party, where everyone brings a dish from a different country. Yum!
The Zócalo in Mexico City
Police are present every few feet in the Zócalo, the main public square in Mexico City. My hotel is near the plaza, so I’ve had the chance to walk through the area a few times. I love the colonial architecture and the hustle and bustle.
Above: A policeman silhouetted with the Catedral Metropolitana in the back, on the northern side of the square.
Below: A policeman on his Segway in front of the Palacio Nacional, on the eastern side of the Zócalo.
The Basilica of Guadalupe
Unfortunately, I haven’t had much of a chance to be a tourist in Mexico City because I’m busy with work-related activities. But I did have a chance to catch this machete dance in front of the Basilica of Guadalupe today. The men in white clothes and plumed hats represent Spaniards. The men in colors represent natives, who fight a valorous battle against the conquistadores. My Mexican colleague wasn’t sure why this drama took place in front of the Basilica but it was fun to watch.
(Above: That's me photographing while snowshoeing through a snowstorm. Picture by