Posts tagged couple

Question : What is your reaction to Undocumented couple leave SB 1070 behind?
A white Ford pickup with Arizona plates is driving north on U.S. 191 headed for the Utah border. Afraid of encountering police, the family inside is traveling at night. The pickup’s headlights cut through a sea of darkness.

The family is in a hurry to get out of Arizona, to get away from the state’s harsh new immigration law.
The pickup crosses into Utah at 11:59 p.m. Luis Sanchez breathes a sigh of relief as his wife, Marlen Ramirez, keeps driving. Both are undocumented immigrants from Mexico.

“Look,” he says. “We are here. We have arrived in Utah.”

They have made it safely out of Arizona, past the Maricopa County sheriff’s deputy they saw as they were leaving Surprise and past the highway patrol cars they saw along Interstate 17 between Phoenix and Flagstaff.

They still have a long way to their final destination: Pennsylvania. There will be engine troubles along the way. And more police. And frayed nerves.

But the hardest part of the nearly 2,700-mile journey will be the end. Their final destination is where starting their lives over begins.

Feeling like prisoners

Luis and Marlen, both 33, lived in Arizona for more than 15 years. They are from the same small town, Xaltianguis, in southern Mexico, but they met while living at the same West Valley apartment complex.

Luis was 17 when he crossed the border illegally near Douglas. Marlen was 16 when she jumped a fence near Nogales. Both came looking for work.

Their three children are U.S. citizens because they were born in Arizona. The oldest, Luis Jr., is a quiet 13-year-old. Vanessa, 10, wears glasses and loves to talk. The baby, Christian, is 2.

Lawyers have told Luis and Marlen that they do not qualify for legal residency.

Luis has washed dishes at a restaurant on Grand Avenue, at a retirement home in Peoria and at a restaurant in Sun City West. For the past four years, he worked as a landscaper for a company that maintains office buildings in the West Valley. He earned $ 9.80 an hour. Marlen is a stay-at-home mom.

Luis got his jobs using fake papers. He has managed to keep working despite the recession and Arizona’s employer-sanctions law, which have made it much harder for illegal immigrants to get jobs.

The couple started thinking about leaving Arizona when Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio began conducting his crime sweeps two years ago, saturating largely Latino neighborhoods with deputies, stopping vehicles for minor traffic violations and arresting illegal immigrants. The couple said the sweeps made them feel like prisoners. They used to enjoy spending Sundays at the park. But to avoid the police, they started staying home as much as possible.

The day after Gov. Jan Brewer signed Arizona’s new immigration law on April 23, Luis and Marlen decided to leave.

They are not alone.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of families have fled Arizona, abandoning homes and apartments in already struggling neighborhoods. Many more are planning to leave. Some have returned to Mexico. Many are relocating to neighboring states, many of which may soon try to adopt laws similar to Arizona’s.

Luis and Marlen picked Pennsylvania. They have relatives there who say there is plenty of work.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/06/27/20100627arizona-immigration-law-leaving-state.html#ixzz0s2T5dCfk
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Best answer:

Answer by Dina W
Wow…

Mexico is so much closer than Pennsylvania to Arizona…

Maybe if the went home, and immigrated here legally… their nerves would be in better shape.