I think I am getting the sniffles already from this NY Times sob story
The curandera is weary from work. Three, four, five times a day, the immigrant farm workers knock on her apartment door, begging her to cure their ailments.
They complain of indigestion, of rashes, of post-traumatic panic attacks. Then there are the house calls that compel her to crate up her potions and herbs and drive across town, often after midnight, to escape the notice of immigration police.
“I’ve done so many cures that I’m exhausted; it gives me no time to rest,†said Herminia L. Arenas, 55, the curandera, or traditional healer, who has practiced in this Central Valley town since migrating 14 years ago from Oaxaca, in southern Mexico. “I want to retire, but I feel like I was sent here to help these people.â€
According to The Law, I reckon this would make Herminia an accessory to a federal crime, which is what coming across the border illegally or overstaying a visa is. A Federal crime. Also, she can keep herself from being exhausted by not treating illegal aliens!
The people need help because they are in the United States illegally and because they are poor. Few have health insurance, but the backbreaking nature of their work, along with the toxicity of American poverty, insure that many are ailing.
Here’s a valuable bit of good advice: don’t friggn’ come to the United States illegally! Then they will not have these issues here.
Immigrants interviewed amid the vineyards of Madera and the cantaloupe fields of Mendota said they had faced numerous obstacles to pursuing conventional medical care. Above all, they said, was cost, but other factors included fear of deportation, long waits for treatment in medically underserved areas, and barriers of culture and language.
Notice that the Times did not write “illegal immigrants,” as that would mean they were cavorting with law breakers. As far as the “barriers of culture and language,” the issue of illegal immigration might not have become so large if those coming from south of the border, both legal and illegal, would get off their asses and work to learn English and be a part of the American melting pot.
Studies find that many Latino immigrants arrive in the United States healthy, but then develop the trademark afflictions of their new home: diabetes, obesity, asthma, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Long hours in the fields often leave them with muscular and skeletal injuries, as well as rashes and burning eyes from pesticides and dust.
Hey, cool, the Times managed to work a “the USA is a bad country” talking point into the story.
Jurley Cortez, 20, an illegal immigrant, has not been to an emergency room, doctor or dentist in her nine years in the United States, except for the perfunctory physical her school required for athletics. Now a high school graduate, she picks tomatoes and cantaloupe near Mendota.
Woops, I guess the Times is cavorting with illegals. Maybe Cortez should get her ass out of our country, and try to come back legally.
Anyhow, I really do not have sympathy for people who put themselves willfully in these situations. They did it themselves, when they could have attempted to come here legally.
