Amid financial sacrifices, they struggle to maintain their remittances, and some double them
Maru Galván used to send a remittance of $ 200 a month to her mother and sister who live in Ecatepec, Mexico, but since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March, she doubled the amount sent.
“Now I send them between $ 400 and $ 500 every month, and sometimes every fortnight,” says Maru, a Mexican immigrant who resides in the San Fernando Valley with her family.
“My mother and sister fell ill with COVID-19; and they have needed a lot of medicine. That’s why I’m sending them more money, ”he explains.
Maru’s mother is 75 years old and takes care of her 45-year-old sister who has slow learning problems. Neither of them can go out to work.
Maru acknowledges that she has not been in trouble to increase the remittance to her mother and sister. “Thank God, my husband and I have not stopped working during the pandemic, and since we are not going anywhere, really that money that we have saved, we send it to Mexico”.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador revealed during his Las Mañaneras press conferences that remittances could reach a record $ 40 billion this year, and will become the main source of income in the country this year. This trend was observed from the beginning of the health contingency.
“We want to thank Mexican migrants because it was announced that remittances increased in March, reaching 4 billion dollars. This had not happened for almost 20 years, there was an increase from February to March of 35%.
“Our countrymen sent almost 100 billion pesos in March, around 10 million shipments”He said in March.
Lupita Siordia used to send money to her mother and sisters only for Christmas, their birthdays and on special occasions, but when the health crisis hit in March, she had to start sending them every month.
“My mother is 87 years old. My stepfather 95. He needs a very expensive medicine and we had to support him because the situation in the United States is bad, but it is worse in Mexico ”.
In addition, he says that a brother-in-law was assaulted in the trailer he drives and was practically left with nothing. “We also help him recover.”
Although Lupita comments that her and her husband’s economy is not doing very well in California, they manage to send money to their family in Mexico.
“We are short of income. We are paying the apartment rent late, but what little we have we share with our loved ones who need it so much in Mexico”.
Lupita sends between $ 150 and $ 200 a month to Guanajuato, Mexico.
Everit Méndez, a cleaning worker in Los Angeles, has not stopped sending money to his family for a month since the pandemic began.
“I was sending my mom, but she died in February. Now I send my dad and my brothers $ 500 every month ”.
Everit stopped working for two months due to the health contingency, but in his cleaning job at a university his salary did not suspend him, so his family in Puebla, Mexico was not affected, and he has received the assistance of his son on time. in United States.
Monserrat Vásquez is one of the few that reduced the amount of its shipments to Mexico as a result of the coronavirus. “I don’t work, I’m a housewife. My husband works in construction, but his hours were cut. Now I only send my mom to Sonora $ 50 or $ 60 a month; before they were sent every fortnight “.
Francisco Moreno, director of the Council of Mexican Federations (COFEM), said that it is not new that when there is a global crisis, Mexicans send more money to Mexico.
“The same thing happened during the 2009 recession, and when the deportations of President Obama began. Inexplicably in times of crisis, people send more not only to their families but also to pay for the purchase of land, a house, a small business or simply as a savings or a ‘safe’ in Mexico ”.
And he trusted that there is a kind of fear in the Mexican immigrant that something could happen and he seeks some protection. “The Mexican is very protective of his family during a crisis; And it is a very supportive gesture that in the middle of the quarantine, even when they lack money here, they make an effort to send resources to their families in Mexico”.
