Sheila Gomez, who handles Latino outreach for the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock, relates this story:
Let’s call this guy “Jose.” I was in Ft. Smith, and he came to see if I could help him.
He was here, he had a Green Card, but his family was in Mexico, and he wanted to bring his family here. I said “OK, let’s do the paperwork.”
We figured out that it would take eight to 10 years before his family could come. His oldest son at that time was around eight years old. He had a number of children, but he only saw his family two weeks out of every year.
The last time he went home, his oldest son said, “Don’t go back there. Please stay. We need you here. I need my father.”
He said to his son, “I have to, that is where my work is, so that we can live.”
He looked at me and said, “I just don’t think God meant for me to choose between being with my family and feeding my family.”
By the time his son can come here, he will be 18, and he will have grown up without his father.
I have many stories like that.