Minimum Wage and Immigrants

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UPDATE 3 September 2017: Yesterday, President Trump pledged to end DACA, which would make Karena (in the story below) an undocumented immigrant and one of the 1.5 million “good ones” vulnerable to deportation. This is a heartbreak for me and I’ve been thinking about her family all day. The first half of this post is relevant to that issue and the bottom half is tangential, but still important.

Both of those topics are uncomfortable to discuss with family or people from work.

That’s exactly the reason why we should talk about it.

Read all the way to the end.

Karena

Five B years ago, I taught math and was senior advisor to a group of 114 stinky teens that I’d known since they were sophomores.

It was magical.

That was the year Flaco Suave joined the all-teacher rap crew at lunch.

At this particular school, most of the seniors were low on credits and trying to scrape by with a C- so they could walk at graduation.

Karena¹, however, was fantastic. Actual quote:

Karena: I love everyone around me, thatbs why I always say bHib. Youbre my homie.

Bubbly, friendly, social, hard-working, and musically-gifted, Karena played guitar and sang in her family band while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. She had a thick Mexican accent, but that didn’t stop her from loudly proclaiming her affections for one of my younger students in the Pre-Calc class:

Karena: Gustavo, you look cuteB today. Guys, when me and GustavoB have our kids, you are going to be the Godfathers.
Yesenia: Godparents.
Karena: Gustavo, where you going? Oh, he got me a ruler, how cute. Ibm-a take you to Mejico and show you my ranch and my cows. Ibm-a put you on my burro. Do you want to see my burro?
Gustavo: No.
Ray: Ibll see it.
Karena: No, Ibm only showing Gustavo. And I will buy you a cow. And then Ibm-a take you in a airplane.
Gustavo: Ugh! Leave me alone!
Karena: Gustavo, I brought you an apple. Here, open up you mouth.
Gustavo: What? No! Who feeds somebody an apple? Mr. Vaudrey, why are you laughing?
Karena: Come on, mi chiquito amor porcinob&
Gustavo: You just called me a pig!
Karena: b& Are you sure you donbt want your apple?
Gustavo: NO!
Karena: Ah! Gustavo. Stop rejecting my apple. When we get married, Ibm-aB divorce you.
Gustavo: Mr. Vaudrey! Shouldnbt you be stopping this?
Vaudrey: Gus, you should be flattered! Winning the affections of an older woman.
Gustavo: Shebs not even that oldb&er!
Vaudrey: Shebs a senior.
Gustavo: Ibm a junior!
Karena: Thatbs okay, I like leetleB kids.

This was a typical class period. Interspersing math with loud public advances on the shy boy (who smiled the whole time).

After Winter Break, Karena and the other seniors begin the trudge toward graduation, which increased in pace until Frantic May and Emotional June. In February, however, life was pretty good in Mr. Vaudrey’s 4th period.

We had just wrapped up periodic functionsB and were packing up to file out to lunch when I realized that Karena had been strangely quiet today and appeared to be staring hard at her notebook instead of packing up.

Once the class had emptied, I sat across from her. “Karena, what’s going on?”

She immediately burst into tears.

“Mr. Baudrey,” she wept. “I’m sorry I didn’t finish my homework last night. I had to work late at the store and I fell asleep behind the counter. These are the same clothes I wore yesterday, I just come right to school this morning with no shower. And my parents had to take my college money to pay bills.”

We sat in silence. Karena sniffled and dropped tears onto her immaculately-highlighted notebook, and I was stunned.

“What am I gonna do?” she asked, and looked at me.

I paused for a moment.B What is sheB gonna do?

I have no idea.B

Twenty-five years earlier, I was born the oldest of five children of a doctor. We had a big house and I could attend any college I wanted. We qualified for student loans and a large inheritance paid off most of my debt before I even graduated.

Karena worked late into the night andB did her makeup in the bathroom this morning. If she goes to college, she’ll likely work full-time and be saddled with a pile of debt when she’s done.

That is the main reasonB we should raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Karena’s parents are undocumented immigrants.² They work very hard to provide a better life for Karena and her four brothers.

Karena is the exact type of person that we describe when we make references to “The American Dream”. Young, hardworking, traveling to the United States for opportunity. Her whole family works hard, but still can’t quite make it.

My wife and I are both educators with Master’s degrees, two paid-off cars, and a home with a pool. Neither of us have jobs were we have to work “hard”, and we’re still in the top quarterB of the wealthiest in the nation.

The minimum-wage earners can fight for themselves (and many are), but they need the support of the rest of us, too, if the higher-ups are to pay attention.

Currently, businesses like McDonald’s have little incentive to raise the minimum wage. While smaller companies can cut a bit from the top and spread it evenly along the bottom, McDonald’s pay increase would cost them quite a bit of money.B They’ll continue to keep things the way they are, exploiting immigrants and the poor to build a profit.

Does that make you uncomfortable? It makes me uncomfortable.

I didn’t know how to help Karena. Five years ago, I gave her a tissue and a granola bar, and I haven’t seen her since graduation.

But this is a way that I can helpB a little. Take thirty seconds and think about it.

~Matt “Middle-class by birth” Vaudrey

^{1. Not her real name.b)}
^{2. She encouraged me to use this term instead of “illegal” immigrants. “A person can’t be illegal, Mr. Vaudrey.” .b)}

P.S. Instead of taking time to type up a comment rebuking any of my claims, take that time and talk to somebody in your houseB about our responsibility to people less fortunate than us.

Comments

5 responses to “Minimum Wage and Immigrants”

May 16, 2015

Drew Rehfeld

Yes, I read your PS, but Ibm commenting. White, right wing Americans wonbt be able to accept this, because of their lack of historical knowledge. Thatbs the big hurdle. Somehow you have to remind the established whites that their ancestors were the same way. That bthick Mexican accentb used to be a thick German accent 100 years ago. When there used to be fighting wih the Irish and Italians, and the established English American (bnativesb as they were called) wanted them out for not being able to speak English and being Catholic. Webre all immigrants, but we really forget the extent of that statement. Ibve read the letters in half German/half English and terrible run-ons between my Great Grandpa and his siblings. As you said, this girl and her family are the American Dream. Just like all the struggles of our ancestors. But we look down our noses at them like the English did to us. So quickly we forget.

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May 17, 2015

Beyond Intentions

Drew you need a bit of historical knowledge too. Germans, Irish, Italians, etc didn’t pursue the American Dream by lobbying the government to give them an arbitrary wage hike. They put their heads down and achieved it for themselves.

In regards to the article it is a compelling story but is all about perspective. Karena’s family left Mexico for a reason. Only 36% of women finish high school in Mexico yet because her family crossed the border she should be entitled to being middle class (rich by world standards)? Prosperity isn’t gained overnight but calls for increasing the minimum wage assume it can be. I live in Uganda where 80% of the people live on less than $1.25 a day and you are calling for $15 an hour? Hopefully that gives you some perspective. Life is tough for illegal immigrants but no one is going back to Mexico or any other country anytime soon.

I actually would support increasing the minimum wage as it wouldn’t eliminate nearly as many jobs as people claim but I can’t support arguments like this for it because it assumes exploitation and asserts that people are entitled to middle class simply by being in the US. Plenty of people work hard yet very few on this planet are offered the opportunities afforded to them (even now) in the US. That is where the discussion should start. Not emotionally charged stories that portray a narrow understanding.

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1. May 18, 2015
  
  Drew Rehfeld
  
  You didn’t understand my comment, nor did you give any historical information; you just gave your opinion. My point was that we can learn from our past mistakes and do better when we understand where they are coming from and how similar we all are. Anyway, you should be quicker to try to understand other people and slower to reprimand. And comparing Uganda to the US makes zero (0) sense. And you don’t understand the concept of minimum wage in the US. The purpose of minimum wage is that you are supposed to be able to live off of it.
  
  Reply
  1. May 26, 2015
    
    Beyond Intentions
    
    People on minimum wage are living. What you mean is that they don’t live as well as you want them to. I agree that we can learn from mistakes but we should also learn from why the poor in the US are much better off than the poor (or even middle class) in nearly every other country. So why doesn’t comparing the US to Uganda make sense?
    
    Reply
2. September 5, 2017
  
  Matt Vaudrey
  
  I canbt support arguments like this for it because it assumes exploitation and asserts that people are entitled to middle class simply by being in the US.
  
  The alternative to “entitled to middle class” in this case is “they deserve poverty.”
  That makes me uncomfortable.
  
  Reply