The face of immigration reform may be the face of your neighbor, Part 3

A group of Frazier Park women who meet each weekday morning to pray for our community and for each other’s families agreed to speak about their concerns and doubts, their hopes and experiences as immigrants in the United States. Some are comfortable using their names and images as they tell their stories. Some cannot. Their stories vary widely. Many are here legally, but with a spouse who is not. Some are in a limbo created by the immense backlog in the U.S. immigration system. These friends agreed to share their stories to help our community understand the human face of the complicated issues behind immigration reform in this country. In the last segment, we learned that Armida Calderon and her husband are here legally from El Salvador. They were visiting in the U.S. when two devastating earthquakes and a cholera epidemic in El Salvador killed thousands and destroyed the economy. Salvadorans in the U.S. were offered Temporary Protected Status (TPS) so they could work here and send money home. But TPS can be revoked at any time. Armida has felt she is unable to visit her family or even go to her father’s funeral this October for fear she may not be allowed to return to the U.S.

By Patric Hedlund

The Calderons were 26 and 27 years old in 2001 when they came for a vacation in the U.S. Their daughters, 4 months and 4 years of age, were with them here when the earthquakes hit El Salvador. They decided to accept the TPS status so they could send money home. They pay $2,000 a year to the U.S. government for the right to work here, in addition to paying…

Photo captions in this story:

(l-r) Armida Calderon and Marialuisa Carrillo. The face of immigration reform may be that of your own neighbor.

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This is part of the December 26, 2014 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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