For many Westporters, the debate on immigration — no matter how important they believe it to be — is abstract.
A wall in Mexico, the fate of Dreamers, mass deportations — none of that directly touches our own personal lives.
For hundreds of men and women who work in Westport, however, the issue could not be more real.
They are immigrants. Some are documented; others are not. Some have married Americans, and feel secure. Others have only a tenuous hold here, or none at all.
Every one, though, works extremely hard.
Some have 2, even 3, jobs. They take the bus from Norwalk, Bridgeport or Stamford to Westport. They find rides. If they have to, they walk.
The Coastal Link bus is a primary source of transportation for many Westport workers.
They are hidden here, in plain sight. They work as landscapers, in restaurants, as housekeepers, in service jobs.
They often earn the minimum wage, or a bit over. Some get tips. None have benefits.
They live better than they did in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Brazil. But they send big chunks of their pay back home.
Some of it helps relatives live better lives there. Some goes to pay “coyotes,” who charge $15,000 to $20,000 to bring immigrants to America.
(Funds that family members provide to home country relatives are slowly paid back to the lender. Almost always, all the money is returned.)
The immigrants here are paying it forward. Someone once — 10 or 15 years ago, 2 or 5 years ago, last month — gave them money so they could pay a coyote too.
These men and women don’t talk much about their lives. For one thing, they’re working too hard. For another, they don’t want to draw attention to themselves.
But earlier this month, an “06880” reader spoke to a number of Central and South American immigrants about their lives.
After crossing the border — no easy task — they find their way, often by bus, to Fairfield County. They join relatives and friends, recreating the community they knew back home.
Crossing the border is no easy task.
The earlier arrivals acclimate them to their new country. They tell them, for example, how to get fake documents in Queens.
The older immigrants help the newer ones find work. WhatsApp is an active source of referrals too.
There is plenty of work available — jobs most Americans don’t want, or can’t do.
Contractors, builders and landscapers always need employees. The men who take those jobs have learned skills back home. Those who don’t have them are taught by those who do. Many make $15 to $20 an hour. They have no benefits.
Most employers know, or assume, that their new hires are undocumented. If they check papers at all, it is not closely.
Workers at one Westport business make $1 or $2 above minimum wage. They share tips, too. They can earn up to $150 or $200 a day. But there are no benefits. And because their work is weather dependent, there are days when they are not paid at all.
A large group of Brazilian women work as house cleaners. They are paid about $650 a week, in cash. They have no benefits, but they don’t have to pay for transportation. The owner picks them up, and drives them to jobs.
Undocumented immigrants find work in lawn care, construction, house cleaning, and local businesses.
Many are fearful of what will happen when Donald Trump becomes president. They remember, for example, an ICE raid on a Norwalk store during his first administration.
Some don’t think anything bad will happen. They say he has already been in office, and did not follow through on some drastic promises. And, they say, they won’t be deported, because there would be no one left to do their jobs.
Immigrants who are criminals should be deported, they agree. Most do not think that non-criminals will be targeted.
An immigrant from El Salvador is a strong Trump supporter. A legal resident through his marriage to an American woman, he would like to see mass deportations. When workers are scarce, he says, he can make more money.
Their news sources include Telemundo and Univision, plus immigration resource volunteers at meeting places, like churches.
Work, church, work, family and community gatherings, work — those are the lives of the hundreds of undocumented immigrants who do the jobs we need here in Westport.
We don’t really see the men and women who perform that work. Nor do we often think about them, including why they do it, and the sacrifices they make.
We certainly don’t wonder who among them is here legally, and who is not.
But those thoughts are part of their lives here, every single day.
And they have been, ever since they arrived, uncertain but eager, in this land of such great opportunity, promise and hope.
Great and very important article. These immigrants are wonderfully hard workers who are important to our community. They not only work hard, they add to our culture! Please protect them and tip them big time this holiday season and always
Julie
Perhaps a review of how we used to treat immigrants is in order:
From prior to 1891, immigration to the USA was handled by the States. When the influx became too massive and with the passage of the Immigration Act of 1891, the federal government took over and created Ellis Island when the previous Castle Garden in Manhattan became overburdened. Ellis Island would eventually process 12 million immigrants over the next 62 years. There were also ports of immigration in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Francisco and New Orleans. If the the immigrants’ papers were in order and they were reasonably in good health, the entire process would take 3-5 hours. If you could NOT afford 1st or 2nd class voyage tickets, you were considered “steerage.” These immigrants traveled in crowded unsanitary conditions during the two week voyage across the Atlantic and underwent detailed inspections upon arrival. Despite Ellis Island’s nickname of “Island of Tears,” the vast majority were treated with courtesy and respect. Interpreters of all major languages were made available and only 2% were rejected, most due to contagious diseases. Following the huge influx of immigrants, the politicians had had enough and began passing legislation based on the ethnic quota system. This created havoc and led to many immigrants coming here illegally. President Reagan gave amnesty to 11 million immigrants, documented or not, in his last term in office. Since then very little reform has occurred to a point that depending on what country you are arriving from, depends on what law is applied. The legal system is often times lost as to who should be allowed or nor. As such, with the rising turmoil in Central America many have attempted, as did their predecessors from Europe, flee to the USA for safety and a better life. Now, as in 1924, the issue has become one of politics, with mass deportation, which would cost millions of our tax payers’ money, to those who simply want a better life. Thank you Professor Woog for bringing up this issue which has become a catalyst for disinformation and hate.
Thank you for your thoughtful article!
AND, statistics show that, “illegals” comment FEWER, not more, crimes than do we citizens as they keep our lawns mowed, trees pruned and gardens weeded at minimum wage.
This a wonderful piece. I love the immigrants here. They are eager and hardworking. I notice they are often smiling. They keep our country going.
Thank you for this article. Many people don’t realize how hard it was for these people to leave their homelands and leave loved ones behind in order to search for a way to help them live there or to help bring them here for a better life. Many of them feared for their lives. Even if they wanted to come to the US legally often their own countries will not issue them a visa or proper documents to travel or it takes years to get these documents. We don’t realize often enough that many of our own ancestors took risks and paid a lot of money to travel from places that weren’t safe or they weren’t able to provide enough food for their loved ones to travel to the US. Many of them came illegally too. All immigrants want a better way of life and most are willing to sacrifice and work hard to achieve it. Please consider this when you think about it. Most do jobs most of us don’t want to do. The hardships they faced before arriving, the hardships they currently face, most of us don’t have. Most of us have benefited from the ancestors who came before us who faced many of the same hardships during their times.
I’m not sure that people are that happy that Tren de Aragua are apparently as close as Stamford now!
Immigrants have always been major contributors to the strength of America. Now, more than ever. We have a already have a critical shortage of workforce in the fields of agriculture, landscaping, construction, restaurants, as well as more skilled positions. But where we are feeling it most is the area of caregiving, for children, people with disabilities and most critically caring for our growing elderly population. We turn these willing and hard working people away at our peril.
I do think about those people, I actually think about them all. In fact I was one of them in a way. Watching them doing their jobs with such a joy and optimistic, makes me appreciate little things in life more.
if you are interested in immigration todays front page of New York Times is a great compliment to Dans excellent story
Immigrants also contribute to our economy as consumers and taxpayers, every time they buy food, clothing, gas and pay rent.
Dan, I haven’t been here as long as some, but I know you know so much about our deep roots by all immigrants that built and lived in this town, maybe attach one of your previous articles about those groups, including enslaved people.
Dan, thank you pulling together your thoughts on immigration. Drive any street, and you will see Westport is a town that uses the labor of many immigrants on a daily basis. This is indeed an issue that impacts our town. For me, my grandparents came through Ellis Island, and a crowded Lower East Side in New York City still had room for them. This is a big country. We can fit these people in. The issue may be, How big are our Hearts?
The guy from El Salvador who supports Trump. His selfish reason is that he will have more work if Trump does mass deportation. He’s the kind of American we don’t want or need. This is what Trumps America will be like. Everyone screw anyone they can
Well, that’s rather presumptive for you to ascribe his reasoning on the topic to him, don’t you think, sir? The fact that you think his validity here, in this county, purely depends on whom he votes for, says a lot more about you, than him. Sir.
Thanks for the reminder, Dan.
Without giving a massive amount of detail, as a former Board Member for our condominium,I dealt with many workers from Central America and they’re fantastic workers! As a side note, in 1979 I spent a month in Costa Rica and Guatemala.
Here’s some inconvenient truths (and facts):
President Obama deported 12 million illegals.
President Clinton deported 9 million illegals.
Hillary Clinton ran on promising to deport illegals in 2016.
As a group the percentage of illegals that commit crimes is more than citizens and more are affiliated with gangs.
Even 1 crime committed by an illegal is preventable as they should not be here at all.
Anyone crossing our border illegally IS a criminal already.
It takes only 2-3 years to get a green card LEGALLY.
Anyone that hires an illegal is a criminal themselves.
Illegal immigration funds sex trafficking, drug cartels and the abuse of children and women.
Illegals allow businesses (and wealthy homeowners) to undercut American workers and cheat tax revenue.
Legal immigration is important to America (always has been) and streamlining the wait list would produce all the workers needed, legally.
The result of the election with illegal immigration the top issue shows where the majority of Americans stand on this issue.
Look at what’s happening across Europe. Wake up. I’m sorry if the security of our country causes people to pay more (and on the “books”) for house cleaning, landscaping and childcare. Using a shield of false virtue signaling doesn’t excuse criminal behavior.
what about the criminals who hire them? many are Republican owned business
let’s speak about Westport What prevents the builders and construction companies from hiring documented workers? What prevents our resteraunts from hiring. documented workers? What prevents Westport nail salon from hiring documented workers? What prevents our massage and reflexology stores from hiring documented workers ?
1. It is a myth that “illegals” commit more crime than US citizens: https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/undocumented-immigrant-offending-rate-lower-us-born-citizen-rate#:~:text=U.S.%2Dborn%20citizens%20had%20the,between%20the%20other%20two%20groups.
2. It is a lie that “anyone crossing our border is a criminal already”. Evidently, you are ignorant of the actual fact that the United States maintains a policy of legal asylum for those crossing the without documentation, or as they are often othered, “illegals”, who have bonafide claims to seek that asylum. Is that okay with you?
3. I’ll bet some of the guys who blew your leaves this fall were “illegal”. According to you, that makes you a criminal too. Maybe you should self-deport.
4. There was a bipartisan bill to deal with border but Donald “34 felonies” Trump put the kabosh on that. Now let’s get back to the real problems facing this country, Hunter Biden and his laptop.
Just gimmie some truth.
If you all like illegals and think it’s ok to come in illegally I think you should make Westport a sanctuary city. They could stay at free rooms paid by you rich white liberals. The inn at longshore and maybe set up a place at Jessup green maybe a tent community.
Let them go to all the schools in town. They can attend classes with all the kids.
Westporters are full of 5-10 thousand square foot homes. They can stay with you all. Maybe set up tents on your many acres.
They will get use to all the healthcare in town for free. You can give them phones and debit cards.
I can make this happen. Let’s see how you liberals would react if this was to happen to your Rich white liberal town.
So my Family came to Saugatuck as immigrants. They came legally thru Ellis island. 2024 shouid be no different. Stop trying to sound like you care.
Westport a sanctuary city 2025. Let’s do it people.
We have a labor shortage in this country, Jeff. The “undocumented immigrants” not illegals for many are awaiting their asylum hearings, are doing most of the jobs us Americans will not do. Like picking fruit for $40 a day in Florida. My grandparents came over to Ellis Island as well, got booted out of NYC for the Irish did not like the Swedes and settled in RI where they fostered 8 kids, 4 went to Harvard, paying large amounts of revenue in taxes. We need immigration reform in this country, no question but mass deportation is not the answer and your sarcastic comment does nothing but stir the pot. P.S. My house is 2,700 square feet as are all the houses on my street. Reality check,.
We certainly seem to have provided sanctuary to Patrizio Arciola. Maybe you’d like to take him down to North Carolina with you?
MAGA xenophobia with no sense of what Westport is now. Rather sad the level of hate.
Most immigrants to the United States did NOT come through Ellis Island. Many came through when an immigration system barely existed, often without proper documentation. Many, as now, were fleeing persecution and hatred, literally running for their lives. Why you feel such disdain for them is between you and your psychiatrist. I wonder what Jesus said about how we should treat people in dire circumstances? Maybe you’d like to tear down the Statue of Liberty as well and replace it with one of the orange man baby threatening to be a dictator on day one. How charming.
Merry Christmas.
What happened to the big beautiful wall that Donald Trump built and that Mexico was going to pay for? Oh, that’s riiiight. He never built it and Mexico didn’t pay a dime for it.
The poor suckers who fell for this three card Monty carnival barker.
“It takes only 2-3 years to get a green card LEGALLY.”
I’ve noticed that many Americans believe there is a straightforward “legal” way of immigrating to the US, when those of us who have charted the waters know how difficult (and indeed, for many, impossible) it actually is. Phillip please explain how someone can obtain a green card “legally” in 2-3 years (unless you marry a US Citizen)?
There are also immigrants and their young adult children who are now our professionally educated and trained health care, elder care and childcare workers climbing the ladder. These are also very physical and emotionally/mentally taxing jobs that are incredibly difficult to fill that they do with professional and grace every day.
To Phillip Peri–where have you gotten your statistics? ICE data shows there were 827,104 removals during the Clinton years, not 9 million. Between 2009 and 2016 the number was a bit over 3 million, not, 12 million as you state. Similarly, every statistic I’ve seen shows that the number of crimes committed by US citizens and legal residents is anywhere from 3-4 times that of illegal residents. The reason for that is simple–most illegals are afraid to step over the line because they understand the consequences vs. citizens, etc. who don’t have that fear.
Immigration is a good thing, for God’s sake, unless you’re the descendant of a Native American, we can all trace our roots back to immigrants. Perhaps they were legal, perhaps not, but immigration is what built this country. The only difference is that 100-200 years ago there were few, if any laws, and people just came here. Now Congress can’t get out of its own way to pass reasonable immigration laws and politicians run on fear rather than reason. Have we really gotten to a point where we feel it’s time to pull up the ladder and forget that today’s immigrants are our ancestors? For God’s sake, give them a break. The same break our ancestors were given.
Yes, where did those numbers come from? He will not answer your questions, so let me help you out:
He just made them up out of thin air. How convenient.
Thank you, Dan.
Closed borders will result in the political decline of the USA:
Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance–and Why They Fall by Amy Chua
examines global super powers through recorded history and identifies tolerance as the single factor that connects their rise and fall.
Starting from the Persian Empire in 559BC to today’s USA, they rose through lawful governance, economic opportunity, and tolerance of other religions and ethnicities and went into decline by closing their borders to new nationalities, new thinking.
Elon musk. Musk denies a report by the Washington Post that when he immigrated to the USA he worked illegally. There is no proof Musk obtained legal documentation to work in the USA. Immigration is a very complex and complicated subject. The USA has failed to provide comprehensive immigration law
According to CNN (not a bastion of conservativism) and according to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute, more than 12 million people were “deported” – either removed or returned – from the US during the Clinton administration. More than 10 million were removed or returned during the Bush administration. Far fewer – more than 8 million – were removed or returned during the Obama administration. Oh, my apologies I transposed Obama & Clinton. Again, the left uses percentages to cover their nonsense. Of course the percentage of illegals that commit crimes is less than citizens…..because there are 300,000,000 citizens. If you consider each group separately its a much higher percentage of illegals that commit crimes. Yes, LEGAL immigration is a benefit to America and should be streamlined. Yes, 2-3 years to get a green card, not citizenship, a green card. No one has a “bonafide” claim to asylum until adjudicated by a judge and that’s only if they cross at official border crossings and turn themselves in. As for the fake “border bill”, it legalized 1MM unvetted illegal border crossers each year before the border would be shut, memorialized the remain in America policy and had billions for Israel and Ukraine buried in it. Read before you swallow the BS.
Once again, the deportation numbers you stated are false. I call them lies. Here are the correct numbers regarding actual US deportations:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_and_removal_from_the_United_States#:~:text=In%20the%20105%20years%20between,about%20870%2C000%20people%20were%20deported.
I look forward to hearing you assert that wiki and the US justice department are left leaning organizations.
US citizens commit far more crime than the undocumented as measured as a percentage of total crime occurring and in total raw numbers. I know, percentages and total numbers. It’s sooo confusing.
Individuals seeking asylum in the United States must do so at an official entry point UNLESS THEY HAVE ALREADY CROSSED THE BORDER ONTO US TERRITORY. You stand corrected.
The border bill wasn’t fake but it was bipartisan and would helped at the border and didn’t provide for millions more to pour in. That’s all been debunked. But you know what was fake? The big beautiful, wall Trump didn’t build and that Mexico didn’t pay for.
Talk about bs.
Still waiting to tell us exactly how someone gets a green card within 2-3 years without marrying a US Citizen or winning the “Green Card Lottery” – from which most Citizens of the World are exempt. I suspect it’s because you don’t know the answer?
Okay, the immigration laws are totally jacked up and few attorneys, let alone judges, know them in total. We had a cleaning gal for 22 years and she had a green card only. I finally asked her son, how she could stay so long without being a citizen or being deported? His response: The USA had a war involving El Salvador a century ago that allowed for residents there to come here for an extended period of time. The immigration issue has been kicked around for decades without any reform and now everybody is pointing fingers. Reagan gave amnesty to 11 million in his last term. Perhaps that might be cheaper than deporting them all?
You write “Of course the percentage of illegals that commit crimes is less than citizens…..because there are 300,000,000 citizens.” The number of something is different than the percentage of something.
That’s so beautifully written and rings so true with all of the immigrants that Carol Anne and I know, whether undocumented or not. They not only work for us, but become our friends. I can’t forget that my grandparents, mother, and father were all immigrants to the US and that is why I was lucky enough to be born and raised here and to see my 5 children, 10 grandchildren and (soon to be) 10 great-grandchildren grow up here. How does one measure how much our family has contributed to and benefitted from the more than 112 years since my grandfather arrived from the Ukraine in 1912.
December 17 todays NY Times has another excellent immigration story on immigration.
Bus lines are good things, as I’ve known these past 13. No time now to be just quietly suppportive. Feliz Navidad, Dan. Is there a Blogger Pulitzer you can be nominated for? There are awards for everything.
Dan –
Thank you for this post. I will just add that, in Connecticut (and specifically in Fairfield County), one organization whose mission is to help refugees and immigrants become safe and productive members of their new communities is http://www.cirict.org – Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants. They help thousands of individuals and families each year, including victims of trafficking, unaccompanied minors and refugees from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Syria, etc placed in our state. I encourage you to check out their website and, if you feel it, to support the organization. If you would like to learn more, you can also reach out to me (Joe Massoud, ijmassoud@gmail.com) and I would be happy to have a conversation, introduce you, etc.
Happy holidays everyone!