MILWAUKEE COUNTY

'Across the Divide' explores issues of immigration

Meg Jones
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Panelists appear at  Across the Divide: New Realities for Immigrants at Carroll University Monday night. From left are Valeria Navarro-Villegas, Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling and Jose Olivieri, founder and co-chair of Michael Best's Immigration Law Practice.

 

WAUKESHA - Valeria Navarro-Villegas graduated from Marquette University Sunday and works for a nonprofit that helps jail inmates.

Until a few years ago, she was an undocumented immigrant in the United States. She was 7 when she fled Mexico by crawling under a fence with her mother, aunt and two younger sisters because her family wanted to escape poverty and thought the only way to a better life was to flee their homeland.

"We're people who want to make this country better," Navarro-Villegas, 24, told a crowd Monday night at Carroll University during "Across the Divide: New Realities for Immigrants."

She was joined by Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling and Jose Olivieri, founder and co-chair of Michael Best's Immigration Law Practice, who spoke about current immigration problems in America and answered questions from the audience.

Schmaling said it's difficult for local law officers to determine who is here illegally, that there's no "magic immigration button" in their squad cars when they respond to calls. They check ID cards, but unless there's a warrant from federal immigration officials — which happens 12 to 15 times per year in Racine County — they don't know if someone is here illegally.

While Schmaling said he sympathizes with Navarro-Villegas and her difficult journey to America, he said he can't pick and choose which laws to enforce. He also knows that undocumented residents are less likely to report crimes such as domestic violence to law enforcement because they worry they will be deported if they come forward.

Olivieri, who attended Carroll after graduating from high school in Puerto Rico, said the number of work visas for immigrants who want to come to the U.S. is low and the demand so great that they're annually used up in one day.

"Our system as a whole is a mess," said Olivieri. "It's a debate that needs to be resolved at some point." 

 Navarro-Villegas now has legal status in America through the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program but must reapply every two years. It's easy for her to compare her life to her mother's life at her age. She is a college graduate, owns a car and is working to help others. Her mother, however, is still undocumented and afraid to tell her story. 

Navarro-Villegas hopes to be a citizen one day of the country she has lived in since she was 7, when she was forced to leave behind her only possessions as she crossed the border – her favorite toy and photos of her grandparents.

"My mother always thought education would free us from poverty," she said.

"Across the Divide" is a series of events with speakers in the community and is sponsored by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and WUWM,  Milwaukee Public Radio (89.7-FM).