• Mexico

Los Angeles, US, April 8 (EFE).-

The National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) launched a campaign on Monday urging Mexico to include in its new pension program its undocumented compatriots of old age who have worked in the United States and are not entitled to this benefit.

“It is fair for Mexico to recognize the contribution of these immigrants who have also served the economy of that country for years with their remittances and not forget about them at the end of their lives,” Pablo Alvarado, co-director of the Network, told EFE on Monday.

The campaign aims to get the Mexican government to include older migrants in the Bienestar program, which serves all adults over 68 in the US and people over 65 in Indigenous communities.

Several Mexican workers shared their stories and talked about the future they face due to their undocumented status, at a press conference in Los Angeles, on Monday.

Porfiria Guerrero Gaona, originally from Morelos, Mexico, came to the US more than three decades ago. She said that at 76, she still has to clean houses for a living because she has no way to support herself.

The immigrant ruled out the possibility of returning to her country because “like many Mexicans, we no longer have anyone there, and they do not give us work because of our age.”

Mexican Congressman Alejandro Robles Gómez participated in the launch of the campaign, highlighting the need for the Mexican Congress legislation to approve the provision of pensions to Mexicans regardless of the country in which they reside.

As part of the campaign, the NDLON has been conducting a survey focused on undocumented Mexican individuals over 62 years old residing in the US.

Professor Nik Theodore of the University of Chicago, who is in charge of the survey, said at Monday’s conference that he had extended the survey’s deadline so that more Mexicans over 62 could participate.

The survey, the first of its kind, is anonymous and exclusively for information and statistical purposes that can support legislation in favor of this population.

Theodore asked the grandchildren and children of immigrants to help them fill out the survey.

“It is important that we find out what is happening, and only immigrants going through these dilemmas can tell us their story,” Alvarado said.

Mexicans represent the largest number of undocumented immigrants in the US, with 4.1 million people in 2021, representing 39% of the entire undocumented population of the country, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center.

However, the Pew Research Center report pointed out a decrease in unauthorized Mexican migrants due to undocumented individuals returning to their home country.

To participate in the survey, Mexican immigrants can contact the Network or fill out the form on their website. EFE