A personal face on the illegal immigration issue

I must share my day-to-day experiences with illegal Guatemalan immigrants whose children I teach. The majority of the parents ARE illegal immigrants who came here in hopes of a better life for their children. They may work - when they find work - at poultry processing plants, egg farms, and as landscapers, carpenters and maids. Mostly, they are very hard-working, humble people who had very few education opportunities in their own country. They want a better life for themselves - to be able to have a job and make a living. They are still living in poverty, but it is not the hopeless poverty that they knew in their native countries.

When one has a teacher conference with a Guatemalan parent, they do not ask "How is my child doing in school?" first. They ask "How is my child BEHAVING in school?" I go over the report card item by item translating into Spanish; many parents are illiterate in their native language. One has to pay for schooling beyond the third grade in Guatemala, and most came from families that could not afford it. My first year as a teacher, one of my students called out each letter in the mothers name E-L-V-I-R-A- while her mother slowly wrote - when it was time for mom to sign her daughters report card. She had just learned to sign her name the year before, but still needed help with the order of the letters. Another mother, Veronica, confessed that she only had very minimal schooling; she vowed that whatever I required of her son, Javier, in order for him to be successful, she would make sure he accomplished.

The majority of my students were born in the US, and they are legal citizens by virtue of their birthplace. Even if the kids were not born here, they are entitled to a free, public education by law. Immigration status does not affect the right of the kids to go to school; poverty affects them more so, because they must prove with certain documents (a utility bill, a drivers license) that they live at a certain address within a school district. Because they are so poor, many families live in one household. Only one person gets their name on the bill - the rest pay cash to that person. Rental agreements are few and far between - proof of residency is difficult.