For Luis, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, the anxiety starts early each day.
“Pretty much from the time I wake up, I start worrying something will happen,” he says. His mind races: He could have a chance encounter with police and face arrest. Police could discover he’s undocumented and contact federal agents. He could be deported.
Now in his early 30s, he came here 12 years ago looking for a better life, as did many Latino immigrants in Elkhart County. He’s an auto mechanic and, despite all the worry, it’s been worth it. He met the woman who would become his wife, a Mexican national named Dublesa, and together they have three kids who were born in Elkhart.
Still, he and others like him remain isolated in many ways — worried, in particular, about showing up on the radar screen of U.S. immigration officials and facing deportation. Plus, with a focus on work, many frequently don’t have time for much else.
While the Latino population grows, the debate over how to contend with undocumented immigrants — a subset of the newcomers — sizzles. They work hard for many manufacturers in Elkhart County. But lacking paperwork to be here legally, they linger in a sort of limbo — living here but peering in from the outside at times to avoid problems.
“I’m the one who maintains the home. I pay for everything so my kids are OK,” Luis said.
If he ran afoul of the feds and was deported “they’d be here alone. They wouldn’t have a future.” Thus, he keeps his distance from police and, lacking a license, he generally stays out of the driver’s seat.
Luis is speaking in the living room of his Elkhart home while the youngest child, a girl not yet in school, wanders in and out: First to see what her parents are up to, then to get help opening a tube of yogurt.