June 20, 2006
SURREPTITIOUS FOREIGN AID:
Mexican mansions bloom from U.S. jobs (Ioan Grillo, 6/19/06, Associated Press)
Clementina Arellano grew up with her six brothers in a shack in this dusty Mexican hamlet. Now 42, she's raising her sons in a spacious, 10-room mansion with Roman-style pillars at the doorway and a garden full of flowers and singing birds.How did she transform her fortunes so dramatically? By waiting tables and sweating in a furniture factory for about 10 years in Hickory, N.C., and sending home up to $500 a month.
A couple of doors down, Berta Olgin, lives under a leaky roof, with skinny sheep gnawing at sparse patches of grass in her yard. Her sons all decided to stay in Mexico to work as farmers or laborers, earning about $10 a day.
The two women are a vivid illustration of why so many Mexicans head north from this arid valley in central Mexico. Those who make it to the U.S. send dollars to
carve out a Mexican dream between gnarled cacti and jagged rocks. Those who stay behind condemn another generation to a life deprived of material privileges. [...]Last year, Mexican migrants sent home a record $20 billion, making them Mexico's biggest foreign earner after oil, according Mexico's Central Bank. In the first four months of this year, the amount was $7 billion, a 25 percent increase over the same period last year.
Only illegal immigration keeps the migration from getting out of control. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 20, 2006 10:03 PM
Note, though, that Clementina went back.
Posted by: ghostcat at June 20, 2006 11:08 PMI'd go back too, if I had a mansion waiting for me... I wonder if she has Gringo servants?
Posted by: lebeaux at June 21, 2006 12:38 AMGringoes won't work.
Posted by: oj at June 21, 2006 12:46 AMPriceless, oj.
Posted by: ghostcat at June 21, 2006 12:52 AMNow, I don't want to get all mathmatical on you, but $10 a day is around $210 a month.
Do you really believe that the $290 per month more that Clementina earned is the difference between a 10 room mansion and a sheep shack?
Posted by: Brandon at June 21, 2006 9:39 AM"By waiting tables and sweating in a furniture factory for about 10 years in Hickory, N.C., and sending home up to $500 a month.
A couple of doors down, Berta Olgin, lives under a leaky roof, with skinny sheep gnawing at sparse patches of grass in her yard. Her sons all decided to stay in Mexico to work as farmers or laborers, earning about $10 a day."
Posted by: oj at June 21, 2006 9:45 AMSo you are arguing that anyone who doesn't hire illegals for minimal under the table wages isn't being patriotic. Okay. Whatever.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at June 21, 2006 9:49 AMThere isn't anyone who doesn't depend on such l;abor for their current high standard of living. People who complain about it are merely posing.
Posted by: oj at June 21, 2006 9:56 AMThe Gringoes made Clementia work...
Posted by: Ptah at June 21, 2006 9:57 AMThere isn't anyone who doesn't depend on such l;abor for their current high standard of living. People who complain about it are merely posing.
Ah. All becomes clear now. Pink, not Grey.
Posted by: Ptah at June 22, 2006 8:14 AMBitching, not substance.
Posted by: oj at June 22, 2006 9:31 AMWhat's the difference between a "first person" account and an anecdote?
Posted by: erp at June 23, 2006 8:58 AM$20 billion dollars.
Posted by: oj at June 23, 2006 9:02 AM