Immigration focus of summer program
Richard Schaefer, associate professor, Communication & Journalism, is in Mexico for the first UNM summer school session with the Cross-Border Issues Group, a class designed to give undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to explore immigration in depth and in Spanish.
Photo: UNM journalism students Christina Lovato, front in pink, Jennifer Vieth, next to Lovato, and Maggie Ybarra, behind the camera, interview Marciella Mora, a former undocumented worker in the U.S. Mora shared her story with the students.
“Last year we looked primarily at immigration from Central Mexico into the United States. This year we’re expanding our focus to include immigration within Mexico and from Guatemala into Mexico,” Schaefer said. The group produced radio programs that aired on KUNM last summer. This year, plans include television segments.
One week into a month-long program with Cuernavaca, in the state of Morelos, as home-base, Schaefer and his students are working with Arturo López Durán, Schaefer’s counterpart at Fray Luca Paccioli University.
“Over the last three years, the program has allowed students from both universities to develop a greater understanding of the challenges journalists face on both sides of the border. It provides for collaboration and cooperation and for friendships to grow and evolve,” López Durán said.
The students, Christina Lovato, Jennifer Vieth and Maggie Ybarra, are already gathering interviews when hitting the streets of Cuernavaca and other places the group visits. In the coming weeks they will follow leads Schaefer established in Chiapas prior to the students’ arrival. They will also conduct interviews in Oaxaca.
While on a cultural excursion to the Grutas (grottos) de Cacahuamilpa in the state of Guerrero, the group stopped to grab a bite to eat at a roadside stand. A quick question to the owner of the business sent Lovato scrambling to the van for video equipment. The dueña, or owner, Marciella Mora, was at one time an undocumented immigrant into the U.S. The students soon discovered that not all Mexicans want to stay permanently in the U.S.
“She told us that Americans live to work while Mexicans work to live,” Vieth noted. Despite the money and opportunity available in the U.S., many Mexicans prefer their homeland.
In addition to honing their journalistic skills, the students are developing language skills. Two years of college level Spanish was a requirement for enrollment in the class.
“In the last week each student has developed her language skills as well as confidence in usage. In the coming weeks they will only improve,” Schaefer said.
The students have taken excursions to Tepotzlán, the Grutas, Taxco, and also attended the Fiesta del Agua, a pre-Hispanic ceremony resurrected in the last decade. One part in a four-part ceremony acknowledging the elements needed for agriculture, the Agua, or water ceremony, takes place in Las Lagunas de Zempoala, north of Cuernavaca.
Ybarra looks at every outing and interview as a photo op. She can be found focusing her lens on individual and activity, scenery and streetscape.
Ybarra said, “The best advice I ever got was from a ‘Sports Illustrated’ photographer. ‘Honey, take the picture until they tell you ‘no,’ then take the picture until they kick you out. You have to choose. Is it the moment that you want to sacrifice or someone else’s opinion of you?’ I’ve adhered to her advice ever since.”
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Maricela Mora lived in the U.S. for 10 years, residing in Watts, in Los Angeles. Her journey started in Central Mexico when she and her husband decided to travel north. They made their way to Tijuana where they employed a pollero or coyote to help them make the trip. They chose, she said, to hire a coyote because she was afraid of “rape, having organs taken, and an infinite number of things that might happen.” People can look for coyotes, but coyotes also find their potencial clients, she said. The cost: $3,000. “They treated us like we were bags from the store,” she said. “Whether I’m happy or tired, I work,” she said. With her good attitude, Mora found a job with a family. “They were good people with high morals, spiritual people. I was younger and they needed support.” Those who go to the U.S., Mora said, “…are Argentinians, Salvadorans, others, and they suffer the same. They cross in a bad way – running, jumping – they suffer the same.” She and her husband decided to go back to Mexico because of the gangs in L.A. and because they wanted a more tranquil life. She has a son, 17, who was born in the U.S. who is interested in knowing more about his birth country. She said, “Without knowing English, he will still be treated like a Mexican.” To listen to the first interview with the Cross-Border Issue Group visit: Cross-Border Issue Group |
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