By Monica Ortiz Uribe
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-967836.mp3
El Paso, TX – President Obama has chosen El Paso to begin a nationwide discussion about immigration. What he'll likely discover is a city that is largely ready for reform. From Fronteras - Monica Ortiz Uribe reports.
People in El Paso's Segundo Barrio love a Good party, like this one celebrating a new museum. This southernmost neighborhood sandwiched between downtown and the Mexican border is a place where immigrants first settled. The flavor of Mexico is very much alive here. Aztec murals are splashed against apartment buildings that date back to the late nineteenth century. A woman in jelly sandals leans over the second floor railing of one of those apartments gazing at the fiesta below.
Berta: "Berta y soy operadora de una maquiladora...."
Her name is Berta and she works at a local factory making uniforms for U.S. soldiers. When to asked evaluate President Obama's term thus far she twists her lip sideways.
Berta: La verdad hay mucha separacion de families... A mandar a la gente, a los indocumentados afuera, dejan hijos sin sus papas. Y creo yo que ya es hora de que haga una reforma migratoria. Que no quede en puras promesas."
To be honest, she says, there's too much separation of families. 'What do you mean,' I ask. She says when undocumented parents are deported they leave their kids behind. She adds, it's time for immigration reform. No more unkept promises.
Rodriguez: "Vida, Vida? Beautiful name."
Democratic State Senator Jose Rodriguez was also at the party. He says The Obama administration has continued Bush policies stressing strong borders over immigration reform - Now its time to move on.
Rodriguez: "And people are frankly fed up with the rhetoric about the need to secure the border to do more enforcement... instead of priority to legalization to offering a work program for Mexican workers."
Across the southwest, border patrol agents say there's been a decrease in illegal immigrant apprehensions, but in El Paso there's been a surge in a different kind of immigrant - refugees. People are fleeing horrific drug related violence across the border in Cuidad Juarez, into El Paso. Some cross out of desperation on a visitor visa and stay. They enroll their children in school and look for work while cramming into shelters, tiny apartments, or with relatives.
Garcia: "It's a very underground life, you just aren't going to see it because people are just so afraid."
Ruben Garcia is director of Annunciation House, a place that provides shelter to immigrants. Estimates of the numbers of Mexican refugees crossing into the El Paso area range from 30,000 to 100,000. But Garcia says it's a phenomenon happening across the U.S./Mexico border.
Garcia: "If you were my fairy godmother what I would ask of you is: help President Obama understand the absolute imperative of providing EDIT protection for Mexican families that have been directly affected by the violence."
While El Paso has issues unique to it's place on the border, people here share concerns with the rest of the nation: security, education, taxes and jobs. This will be Obama's second visit to El Paso in less than a year. He is scheduled to deliver remarks at the Chamizal National Memorial Park along the U.S. Mexico border - It's the first time a President has visited the park in 50 years.