Latino Immigrants: Patterns of Survival

When people reside illegally in the United States, they live with the fear they may be discovered, incarcerated for a time and deported in their home land.

A few weeks ago, a woman whom I highly admire experienced this very nightmare, when Immigration officers arrived to her home early on a Monday morning, handcuffed her husband and took him away.  I remember calling her that morning for something related to a church affair. I noticed something was not right by the sound of her voice.  I asked her what was wrong. After a few moments of silence, she recounted the horror she experienced in agonizing details:  It was 7 o’clock in the morning and her husband had gotten ready for work.  As always, she had packed his lunch and sent him off with a kiss. Five minutes later she heard a knock at her door.  “Did he forget his lunch again?”  she thought. When she opened the door and found herself in front of two Immigration officers handing her husbands’ personal belongings, including his lunch, and telling her that he had just been arrested, she felt sheer terror coming over her.  She managed to ask them if she could see him and where they were going to take him. She was told that she could not see him but revealed to her the name of the prison where he was heading to and was promised he would be allowed to call her later on that day.

And he did call her a couple of hours later. He was allowed a few minutes, just enough time to tell her that the order of deportation had been issued and that he was expected to be back in Mexico in the following two weeks.  Before he hung up, he expressed his deep love for her and their three children.

 People may wonder what makes individuals and families leave their own country to come and live in the United States when they won’t enjoy the same privileges and rights that legal U.S residents and citizens do. This has been the question that inspired many scholars to find the answers by researching this interesting topic.

The United States, followed by Germany and Canada have the largest number of immigrants amongst advanced industrial countries. An overwhelming number of them are undocumented.  When they arrive to the U.S., however, how do they adapt and cope with the new experience, situation and culture?

What are the stresses they often experience? What maybe the resources of strength that soften this hard experience and enable them to successfully integrate in a new country and way of life? How do cultural, economic, health and educational systems impact the immigrants?

The diverse and massive immigration that occurred in the United States during the last part of the 20^th century provoked many different reactions from governments and citizens. The dynamic increase of Latino immigrants, especially the undocumented ones, has often resulted in hostile and discriminatory attitudes that put their lives at severe risks. On one occasion, during the 1990s, in San Diego, California, two young men fostered by exacerbated hate towards the increasing number of immigrants in their city, decided to “hunt down” Mexicans that ended up with the shooting and killing of someone who they thought was an undocumented Latino.  The person killed was a legal resident of Mexican origin. Experiencing discrimination due to their identity may be a very new and unpleasant experience for the new comers.

The reasons for migrating vary. For some it is a well-planned and thoughtful process that is viewed with optimism for a better life. They would travel by plane and be in the U.S. in a matter of hours. For others it is being forced out of their country due to political realities that is even life threatening. They would take on long, difficult and dangerous trips. In San Diego County, California, tightened border surveillance has pushed those crossing the borders to the eastern part of the county.  In the winter, there are people who freeze to death as they travel through mountainous terrain; in the summer this same trek takes them through desert-like conditions where many die of dehydration and exposure.  For those who complete the journey, memories of others who died in the process result in grief and guilt issues that are difficult to deal with.

One other issue immigrants are exposed to is the lack of fit from their accustomed values, roles and expectations, and those of fronting many conflicts and pressures that are fatiguing.  Many families react by hanging on to old cultural patterns and rituals. However, as the young generation grows, because of their full exposure and interaction to societal institutions, conflicts between children and parents are often created and the younger generation integrates new values and roles that threaten the family’s cultural framework. The family system is dramatically challenged to undergo a new configuration of values and styles that will allow them to keep some of the old but hopefully integrate new ways to thinking and behaving that will enable them to cope more effectively in the new society. Often, if one spouse has more readily entered into societal roles due to education and or employment, the other spouse who is not acculturating at the same rate will be left behind creating problems within the couple. If, after a few years the family is still not coping well due to failing to develop new skills to address the issues at stake, more cultural clashes between spouses and children will be experienced.

The immigration experience typically implies that some family and friends will be left behind in the country of origin. The separation of family’s breaks ruptures the support the immigrant had been accustomed to.  Due to language, cultural and economic issues, immigrants will often find themselves without the moral support and network that had enabled them to function. Social relationships are critical to satisfying the need for communication and to mitigate isolation.

From the sample of Washington D.C. immigrants (Espino et al., 1987) discovered issues in Education for children /youth that place them at high risk for delinquency behaviors and retardation of social and developmental skills. This study indicated that 35 percent were functioning two or more years below expected grade level. Some might think that the delay is related to lack of English proficiency, however, when these children were given the school achievement testes in Spanish, 72 percent scored a two or more year delay in reading and 73 percent a similar delay in mathematics. As Espino noted, once a child or teen reaches this grave level of academic delay, achievement motivation becomes hard and the teens are at risk of severe self-esteem and shame issues associated with their efforts at school skills.  Consequently, when immigrants are unable to develop coping skills in the broader society, their children will similarly miss out on these skills and can easily resort to behaviors that are antisocial. These young people will not master the verbal skills that will allow them to interact with adults from a broader range of socioeconomic groups; consequently, they are restricted to many areas of the city and activities they could benefit from and withdraw and function in a limited but familiar territory.

Support structures do exists, however and they provide the much needed help the immigrants necessitate in order to better functioning in the society.  The immigrants very often live in neighborhoods where people from their country are found with whom they can speak their native language and identify themselves in other areas. Many do act as cultural brokers, sharing their experiences and providing the do’s and don’t that will enable them to learn from others mistakes.  They teach them where rent is affordable, what stores have their cultural foods, where English classes are held. These people may also provide linkages to recreational and social activities.   This kind of networking provides ties to the old culture as a way to stabilize the immigrant’s situation.  The important principles that the cultural supports should help the immigrants to begin to reach out to their new cultural scenario rather than stay immersed in their old culture. Not reaching out will only insures that the second generation will be constrained in the acculturation process as well.  Other important resources to assess for are religious institutions that immigrants may connect to.  Some churches will provide resource information that will enable the immigrant to cope more effectively.  Certainly, the support derived from spiritual or more formal connections to belief systems is a valuable resource for helping them cope emotionally and for providing a context that will enable them to feel connected to others.  Some communities have agencies that provide specialized immigration services for all immigrants and refugees, offering help with documentation as well as services for employment training, job securement and English classes.

Recognizing the particular vulnerability of children and youth in relation to adapting and succeeding in school and social environments may enable workers to focus their intervention as well as prevention efforts in these need areas. Workers and social agencies must help with the integration of these immigrants into societal systems. More systematic and organized dorms of specialized services focused on their individual and group needs must be developed. Most importantly, human service workers must examine their own politics and attitudes toward immigrants, refugees and in particular those who are undocumented. Residues of prejudice or racism must be identified and eradicated so as not to raise further barriers that these human beings must overcome.

While life in the United States is certainly challenging for all the illegal immigrants, and the fear of being deported is ever-present, these people hope that some new reforms that will change their illegal status will take place, one that will assure their right to live in this Country. Because of the instability, crime, the lack of job opportunities, the perspective of going back to their native land is one that fills them with great apprehension. That is why they are willing to take on the risks associated with their illegal status.

Zuniga, M. (2002). Latino immigrants: Patterns of survival. The Haworth Press, Inc.Retrieved on 11/4/2010 from Academic Search Complete database.