Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
New York (Agenzia Fides) – The immigrants who manage to reach the US from Mexico become prisoners of those who had helped them get there, and until they pay their debt with the traffickers, they cannot even think about going home. They will have to work and sweat – if they manage to find work, that is – in slave-like conditions, deprived of everything, in order to find the money they need to pay off the debt. This testimony of a Mexican woman sheds some light on the tragic situation in which they live: “It has been very difficult for me to come here. And now, we are very concerned, because the work has run out, but we have not yet finished paying all that we owe those who helped us come here. Now we do not know how to pay. We have to eat less in order to save up to pay the debt. We hope there is someone who will be able to help us. One leaves their country because the situation is even worse. You work a lot, but make very little. You come here with the hope of making a lot of money, and certainly it is a little more than in our country. My husband can work when there is work in available in the fields. He is there all day under the sun, starting at four o'clock in the morning and they give him no food, only water. He works 8 hours and only makes 50 dollars. But there is no other work for us. I know that the contractor is Mexican. The situation is very difficult now in the States. For now, we cannot go back, because we haven't paid our debt yet. Perhaps farther ahead...if another job arises and we could make a little more money, then we would think about going back home. But, for now, we will have to pay the debt...all of it.” (Luca De Mata) (Anticipation for the television program “The Suitcase Tied with a String”: 4 episodes of a study on world immigration to be aired on the RAI beginning June 29) (Agenzia Fides 9/6/2009)
