(Updated: 11 p.m.) A year after a federal immigration raid in Fair Haven, two of those arrested have left the country — and their boss lost two of the best workers in his largely undocumented work crew.
Delfino (pictured) worked for five years before agreeing to return to Mexico. He was one of 29 allegedly undocumented workers swept up in a June 6, 2007 federal raid that brought national attention to New Haven as an epicenter of the national debate over immigration. (Four more were arrested within the following week.)
(A community wide rally to mark the anniversary of the raid and to support New Haven’s immigrant community takes place Friday at 7 p.m. at St. Rose of Lima Church, 115 Blatchley Ave.)
Before Delfino left, he and his boss spoke about the choices they’ve made, and how those choices fit into that larger debate.
Delfino’s boss — let’s call him Mike — has been a contractor for three decades. He has seen waves of workers, both immigrants and native-born, move through his operation. Most are good workers, he said, but he sees a couple of advantages to the current crop of immigrants, mostly undocumented, who make up his workforce these days.
First, Mike said, almost none of the immigrants have the personal or family problems that some of today’s native-born workers bring to the job, such as drug and alcohol abuse and relationship issues.
Second, he said, many immigrants believe the trades are a respectable way to make a living, and are therefore more enthusiastic employees, whereas many U.S. citizens consider jobs like painting and carpentry low-status and therefore less desirable.
Mike said that after an initial training period when the workers make $10 to $12 an hour, he pays his employees at least $17 an hour. That’s the same he would pay any good worker, he said. He said all the contractors he knows do the same.
In other words, he argued, they don’t hire undocumented workers to exploit them and undercut the wages native-born workers can command. (Two of his workers confirmed the pay scale, and said Mike’s a good boss.)
“Not every immigrant worker works out,” Mike said. “Some stop at a certain level of development. Some have poor work habits or may not like the trades.” But he said it’s going to be hard to lose the two workers just deported. “It’s hard to say if I’ll be able to replace them with workers of similar caliber and character.”
When the raids swept through Fair Haven exactly one year ago, 29 allegedly undocumented immigrants were arrested. Parishioners from St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church spearheaded fundraising to bail out those arrested, and some employers paid the bond for their workers, who then returned to work while awaiting their departure dates.
Mike said he understands why these workers risk so much to come to the U.S.: “They just want to provide for their families.” He said if they stayed in Mexico, most could find jobs their families could survive on, but not thrive on. With the money they send back, they can build a house and provide some of the other material comforts that people take for granted here.
Mike got emotional when discussing his workers’ departure. He cares about them and has tried hard to make sure they have work every day. He seems to worry about the fate of their families once these breadwinners are no longer earning good U.S. wages.
“There’s this uncertainty about the way things are going to go,” he said of maintaining an undocumented workforce. “You can’t help being somewhat fearful, and I have to admit I wake up some nights and think, ‘Oh my God, what am I doing?’ Feeling ill at ease. Am I going to be arrested? There’s a real fear there.”
He said the fear of workplace raids is growing, as the Bush administration has conducted more such raids following the collapse of immigration reform legislation two years ago. But, he noted, these workers form a bigger and bigger part of the labor pool.
Delfino’s Dream
Delfino, who’s 35, worked in the U.S. for five years. He’s quiet and hard-working, quick to smile and chat with a reporter. He had planned to go home this year to visit his family, then return to the U.S. to continue working. That dream shattered with his arrest, since he said if he enters the U.S. in the next ten years and is caught, he’ll face 10 years in prison here and then will be deported again.
[Update: Despite Delfino’s own understanding of his situation, Attorney Mike Wishnie of the Yale Law Clinic, who has been representing many of the individuals arrested in the immigration raid last June 6, clarified that Delfino was not “deported.” Rather, he accepted “voluntary departure,” which means he is not subject to arrest and a ten-year prison sentence if in the future he enters the U.S. illegally and is caught. Wishnie also said that many of those arrested have filed a lawsuit challenging their status as “undocumented.”]
Like most of the Mexican workers in New Haven without documents, Delfino is from Tlaxcala, a tiny state in central Mexico. He said of Mike, “He’s a very good person. He gives us lots of work and treats us well.” He said he liked his work and took pride in a job well done.
Prior to his departure, he was living with the same five roommates who were in the Fair Haven apartment raided last June. He’s returning to his wife and two daughters, now 8 and 9, whom he hasn’t seen for more than half their lives. He said he saved enough from working in New Haven to buy two plots of land and put money in the bank. “I’ll build my house when I return,” he said.
Might his family be better off with fewer material things but with his presence in their lives?
“The kids are growing and need a better life,” he said. “I wanted something better for them.” He said it is important that he make the sacrifice while he’s young and healthy, “because the years pass, we lose our vitality and we can’t work anymore.”
Delfino said he crossed the border at Tijuana and walked five or six hours through the night to begin his journey to New Haven, where he had relatives already working. Since he crossed, the U.S. began building a wall in an effort to keep illegal immigrants out. Of the wall, he said, “People are defending their country. It’s not our country, but we just come here to work, not to rob or sell drugs, not to take jobs away.”
He added that many immigrants who cross the border think they will eventually return to their own countries. But once they’re here, he said, “Their outlook changes. They see life is better here and decide to stay.
“I’m grateful to have come to the U.S., because I learned a trade, I saved what money I could. I’m aware it’s not my country. In every place there are rules that must be respected and not be broken.”
When reminded that he broke the rules by coming to the U.S. illegally, he said, “Well, yes, for necessity. And there are many people, from all parts of the world, who have done the same. We just came for the work.”
“Everyone has some kind of luck,” Delfino concluded. “Many will stay, and many of us have to leave.”