Milwaukee Catholic Herald

Forum focuses on challenges
faced by new immigrants

By Maryangela Layman Román
Catholic Herald Staff

Speaking at a community forum at St. Adalbert Parish, Milwaukee on March 28, Bertha Gonzalez tells of a former coworker who died in the Rio Grande River while attemping to enter the United States. (Catholic Herald photo by Allen Fredrickson)

MILWAUKEE — Five days after more than 10,000 people marched in the streets of Milwaukee to protest proposed immigration laws, about 200 immigrants gathered in a community forum at St. Adalbert Parish to tell their stories.

On hand to hear the testimonies and answer questions at the Community Immigration Forum on March 28 were several politicians including State Representative Pedro Colon, County Supervisor Peggy West and representatives of U.S. Senators Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold.

Speaking in Spanish, the speakers shared their own stories or read testimonies of immigrants who came to the United States without documentation.

Bertha Gonzalez, who described herself as a resident of Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner’s district, said she has lived the experience of going from undocumented worker to legal resident to citizenship.

A native of Jalisco, Mexico, at age 14, she began working for J.H. Collectibles, a large clothing company on Milwaukee’s south side. It closed in 1997, but Gonzalez described it as a good place for Latinas to work.

Gonzalez said her family returned to Mexico in November 1984. “Soon after I left for Mexico, the INS conducted a raid at the company, taking many workers out of the plant and took them to Chicago,” she said, noting many were deported to Mexico.

One of Gonzalez’s coworkers was sent to Mexico, but since her family was in Milwaukee, “she did what any wife and mother would feel the need to do,” Gonzalez said about the woman’s attempt to reunite with her family. Traveling with two other J.H. Collectibles coworkers, they held hands as they crossed the Rio Grande River. But the current pulled the woman underneath, said Gonzalez. “She drowned that day trying to unite with her family. She was a victim of a twisted system that on the one hand wanted the benefit of her hard labor while on the other, afforded her no rights.”

Another speaker named Juan told of coming to the United States in 1984 in 100-degree temperatures in the trunk of a car. For three years, he worked in an apple orchard often on tall food ladders while others sprayed the apple trees with pesticides. “The sprayers were so strong that they almost knocked us off our ladders. The chemicals that they used to fight the pests caused spots and sores on our arms,” he said. If we needed to see a doctor, we had to pay ourselves, said Juan, because the orchard owners — who paid their workers $3.35 an hour or less — did not provide health insurance.

Juan has since legalized his immigration status, but he said he fears proposed immigration laws. “What I think about the proposed immigration laws is that if they pass, there could be outbreaks of violence on any street corner. We Latinos are peaceful, but if they attack us, it is impossible to turn our backs; we have to react.”

One speaker read the testimony of Cristobal, a 17-year-old who came to the United States when he was 5. When he moved to Milwaukee with his family at age 12, they learned he has kidney disease and needs a transplant. While he is physically a good candidate for the transplant, doctors told him they could not do it because he was not born in the United States and is undocumented.

The General Assistance Medical Programs, a county and state funded program which purchases health care for qualified Milwaukee County residents, which pays for his three-times weekly dialysis will not cover the transplant.

“They told me I would have to pay $100,000 for the transplant and $1,000 every month for the rest of my life for the medicines I would need after the transplant…They told me GAMP does not cover this. So they told me to get the $100,000 together. They said the only way to get the transplant would be to raise Monday and ask for donations,” according to Cristóbal’s testimony.

He said because of his dialysis schedule and transportation issues getting to Children’s Hospital, he is unable to go to school. He dreams, however, of joining the army to become a solider or policeman.

Fr. Eleazar Perez, administrator of St. Adalbert opened the forum at his parish with a prayer but also a reminder to those assembled that our church teaches everyone has a right to life, to education, to just and dignified work. “Each of us wants to seek justice and peace,” said Fr. Perez, “and to be valued for who we are.”

Many of the participants spoke out against a bill authored by Sensenbrenner that would criminalize the 11 million to 12 million people in the country illegally, as well as make it a crime to provide assistance to them.

Both that bill and a version passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee March 27 include provisions to expand the Border Patrol and other enforcement measures. The Senate was continuing debate on various versions of immigration legislation the first week in April.

Juan has since legalized his immigration status, but he said he fears proposed immigration laws. “What I think about the proposed immigration laws is that if they pass, there could be outbreaks of violence on any street corner. We Latinos are peaceful, but if they attack us, it is impossible to turn our backs; we have to react.”

One speaker read the testimony of Cristobal, a 17-year-old who came to the United States when he was 5. When he moved to Milwaukee with his family at age 12, they learned he has kidney disease and needs a transplant. While he is physically a good candidate for the transplant, doctors told him they could not do it because he was not born in the United States and is undocumented.

The General Assistance Medical Programs, a county and state funded program which purchases health care for qualified Milwaukee County residents, which pays for his three-times weekly dialysis will not cover the transplant.

“They told me I would have to pay $100,000 for the transplant and $1,000 every month for the rest of my life for the medicines I would need after the transplant…They told me GAMP does not cover this. So they told me to get the $100,000 together. They said the only way to get the transplant would be to raise money and ask for donations,” according to Cristóbal’s testimony.

He said because of his dialysis schedule and transportation issues getting to Children’s Hospital, he is unable to go to school. He dreams, however, of joining the army to become a solider or policeman.

Fr. Eleazar Perez, administrator of St. Adalbert opened the forum at his parish with a prayer but also a reminder to those assembled that our church teaches that everyone has a right to life, to education, to just and dignified work. “Each of us wants to seek justice and peace,” said Fr. Perez, “and to be valued for who we are.”

Many of the participants spoke out against a bill authored by Sensenbrenner that would criminalize the 11 million to 12 million people in the country illegally, as well as make it a crime to provide assistance to them.

Both that bill and a version passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee March 27 include provisions to expand the Border Patrol and other enforcement measures. The Senate was continuing debate on various versions of immigration legislation the first week in April.