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We are nearing the fifth anniversary of the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants who were striving to attain a better life in America.

But their lives ended in tragedy. I remember it as if it were just yesterday. It seems like Victoria is just meant for these kinds of tragedies, because we have had several.

On that day, May 14, 2003, I was getting ready to decorate the Victoria Community Center for our annual Ballet Folklorico Banquet. I received a phone call from a friend who said she needed to see me because something had happened.

I drove to the center, and she told me there was a change in plans. The banquet was going to be moved because the community center was being used as a shelter to hold the survivors of the incident.

She explained what happened. I went to see if there was anything I could do. We have an organization that helps the Spanish-speaking. I offered my services to translate or to get anything together that might be needed.

I saw two young girls who were covered with blankets and asked them if they needed to contact anyone or if they needed anything. A deputy came and asked me to leave. He said the Mexican Consulate from Houston was on its way, and they did not want anyone talking to the survivors.

This disturbed me, but I understood why this was done. I also saw that Siesta Restaurant had arrived with food, so I knew they were being treated OK.

Here we had all of these people in one trailer. They had to go through such hardships just to try to make a better life for themselves and their families.

I have heard so much about immigration that I finally decided to turn a deaf ear.

Do you know why? Because this problem will never end. As long as you have employers who continue to hire illegals (some here locally), they will continue to come.

We have this in our own backyard, but people here in Victoria and everywhere else turn to look the other way. How do I know? I know because I talk to a lot of illegal immigrants.

When you build trust, they will talk. The majority of them come to work. Once they are here, we, the society, seem to mark them as criminals.

We have more criminals here in the United States who are legal citizens, but that’s OK because they were born here. Wrong! It is not OK. We need to come up with a way that will control immigration.

Let them each apply for a six- to 12-month work visa. If they do not renew or reapply, then they have committed a crime.

The Mexican president is doing nothing to help the situation because this is revenue coming in to Mexico. He would be a fool to try to stop it.

But by controlling it with work visas, everyone wins. They could charge for the visas. I am sure people would pay for them because this would mean they could cross the border legally.

I am no politician, but I think like one sometimes.

Doing this would stop the coyote business, and there would be no more tragedies like the 19 illegals who lost their lives.

I think the Victoria Advocate staff should pay a visit to see the living conditions in Mexico, and then come back and report why they try to come to the United States.

See it for yourself.

 

Clara Ramos lives in Victoria and is the founder of the Mexican Americans Joined In Community Affairs.