One need only consider the story of Roxana Santos mentioned in Break the Chain’s previous blog post to understand the very real implications of strict immigration enforcement laws in this country and what that looks like for a woman. Roxana lives in Maryland. She is the mother of a one-year old little boy and she was scheduled to be deported to her native El Salvador at the end of last month. Her crime? Eating her lunch outside her place of employment. On Thursday, September 29th, one day before the scheduled deportation, Ms. Santos was granted a one year stay while allegations of discrimination and overzealous enforcement of immigration laws are investigated.
She is the victim of unjust laws that are determined to deport and dehumanize women (and men) who are contributing members of our society.
The debate around immigration reform in our nation right now is centered around nativist fears, ideological differences about what an American should look like, and the idea that immigrants are “taking” jobs from U.S. citizens who have been hit hard by the recent economic recession. Immigrants are not taking our jobs but the fear and hate speak permeates everyday discussions. There is, however, little talk about the relationship between gender, immigration and exploitation. Immigration is no longer a male dominated phenomenom- women comprise 49% of the world’s 214 million international migrants. This trend has been called the “feminization of migration.” According to statistics compiled by Reuters for International Woman’s Day 2011, of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty worldwide, 70% are women. If opportunities do not exist for women at home, they will leave. This is a basic survival instinct that has kept our species alive since the beginning of humankind.
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