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.