As many as 10 million immigrants live her in the United States. Most of these people come to seek happiness and earn a better life. But once there here how do they become legal? Nicole Sanchez had the chance to interview two area immigration advocates and their services to help these people….
"I heard a priest talking the other day and he said God never met a stranger God was always there to help no matter who you were, whether you were from any land. Your always welcomed," Immigration Advocate Nelly Diaz says.
A welcoming message that immigration advocates, Diaz and Ramona Sosa have been sharing with over 500 families a year at St. Vincent Catholic Church in Abilene. Its in conjunction with the San Angelo Catholic Dioceses Catholic Outreach Charity, where they teach adult education and give immigration services with people from Abilene to as far as North Carolina.
"They come in and study hard. They study because they have a goal, the goal is to become a US citizen and to bring their families to live as a US citizen," Diaz says.
This dream of becoming a US citizen, is what Diaz and Sosa enjoy helping immigrants from all nations achieve.
"In class we can sit and we have people from Hungry, Africa, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, we have a little bit of everything and we have everybodys culture here," Sosa says.
"They are free and if they would just read the constitution, it says everyone thats here in the US documented or undocumented have rights," Diaz says.
In order to keep this service going for close to 14 years, the two sisters charge the minimal to these families to legally become a US citizen.
"It has gotten so hard for an illegal person to live here in the US, especially this last year. It has really gotten, you see it on the news, people are really, people are really again about illegal people living in the US," Diaz says.
Although if any US laws change to help immigrants in the future, Diaz and Sosa will continue to assist over 20 families a week where they could maybe one day reunite with their families on the other side of the border.
"We were brought up to help everyone and when you see these people your heart just goes out to them because we hear the stories on how they left their child back 12 years ago or they havent seen their Mom in 14 years, and they get so excited when they do become legal and travel to see them, their just static with us giving them an opportunity," Sosa says.
The San Angelo Catholic Dioceses Bishop Michael Pfeifer also helps fund Diaz and Sosa for training supplies to continue their services. In the near future they are hoping to have the same services here in San Angelo. If you would like more information you can phone Nelly at 677-1687.
