When Senor — as he is known by friends and co-workers — burned his hand on a scalding pan in the Back Bay restaurant where he is employed as a cook, he did not rush to the hospital for treatment, but instead continued to work as the painful burns bubbled and blistered on his fingers. He declined to make a much-needed trip to the hospital.
“They don’t know nothing,” he said, brushing off the pain.
But Senor knew the slightest misstep in the life of an undocumented immigrant can mean deportation. For every promise of opportunity, potential devastation is close behind.
New obstacles making citizenship applications, work visas and permanent resident cards harder to obtain are the most prominent problems for undocumented workers, said Massachusetts Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Coalition spokesman Shyua Ohno.
On March 6, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the Michael Bianco, Inc. leather factory in New Bedford and arrested more than 350 workers, including many with young children.
Ohno said the raids assailed innocent people who were important contributors to the economy.
“From a humanitarian standpoint, it’s horrific,” Ohno said. “[The immigrants] were absolutely part of the fabric of the community in New Bedford, working hard to make a living and provide a future for their families.”
Undocumented immigrants in Massachusetts typically work in industries that have trouble retaining employees, like agriculture, manufacturing and food service, Ohno said.
In New Bedford, the majority of those detained were seamstresses making government-contracted supplies for troops in Iraq, he said.
Immigrant workers comprise 17 percent of the state’s work force, according to statistics compiled by MIRA. Ohno said communities should provide more services like English classes, healthcare and education to allow workers to make more of a contribution to the economy, but said there is reluctance to help because of social stigmas.
“It’s a very poisonous political climate we’re in, where immigrants are being scapegoated and blamed for everything,” Ohno said. “That makes real discussion of these important issues very, very difficult. It’s really detrimental to real policy discussion because so much of the truth is just getting lost.”
MIRA sounded off on the national death of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act — or DREAM Act – of 2007 on the Senate Floor in October for a bill that would have allowed the children of illegal immigrants a fast track to a college education, work opportunities and citizenship if they joined the U.S. military.
Some opponents of the bill said it was unfair to those who obtained their citizenship legally.
“By creating a special path to citizenship that is unavailable to other prospective immigrants, including young people whose parents respected the nation’s immigration laws . . . [the act] falls short,” said U.S. Sen. Richard Durban (D-Ill.) in a statement minutes before the bill was voted down.
In Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick aided undocumented workers when he repealed a policy in January instituted by former Gov. Mitt Romney that allowed state police to detain and investigate the status of immigrants even if it does not pertain to a criminal investigation, The Boston Globe reported.
Last month, he created specific outlines sent to the 2,500 state police officers to further avoid the targeting of immigrants, the Globe reported.
“The policy says that enforcing immigration laws is not a mission of the Massachusetts State Police,” said Executive Office of Public Safety and Security spokesman Terrel Harris.
Harris said the policy aims to foster better relations between police and immigrant communities throughout the state.
The biggest obstacle immigrants face is the waiting period for visas and green cards, said Daniel Harrington, a senior partner at Boston’s Harrington Law Offices, which specializes in immigration law. Harrington said it is typical for immigrants to wait five years before gaining a permanent residency.
“What could help is to have an agency that works a little more effectively to get through cases, and allows people who are qualified to become permanent residents, and those who are not to be removed,” Harrington said.
The cost of applying for permanent residency, citizenship and visas has multiplied in recent years, said Immigration and Criminal Defense lawyer Rachel Self.
The fee for permanent residency cards increased from $395 to $1,010 on July 30.
Though the increase aims to hasten the residency process by enabling the government to hire more employees to deal with the volume of applications, Self said the system has not improved.
Immigrants remain resilient, though, she said.
“Nothing will ever discourage anyone from trying to become legal in this country,” Self said. “Everyone that I have ever dealt with is so grateful to be here and so interested in staying. They want to know, ‘How can I prove myself to be what America wants me to be?'”
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