Out of the shadows

Immigrants who took advantage of the offer of amnesty in 1986 have done quite well. They have added to the strength of this country and we all have benefited. DP

Immigrants given amnesty via '86 law have fared better
By SHARON McNARY / The Press-Enterprise

The Press-Enterprise: U.S. Army Spec. Gerardo Mercado fought in Iraq alongside a soldier who said he enlisted to become an American citizen. Mercado witnessed the roadside bomb explosion that killed his Mexican-born friend, Jaime Moreno, 28, of Round Lake Beach, Ill.

"That was his wish, to be a citizen and be considered part of this country," Mercado said. "He eventually got it -- post-mortem."

Mercado understood his friend's longing because he had seen it in his own mother. Mercado, who is a citizen, was born in the U.S. to parents who made an illegal dash across the Mexican border into California in 1980 and lived as undocumented immigrants for seven years.

Rosa Mercado said the amnesty profoundly changed the quality of all their lives for the better. "When we came here, we didn't have anything," Rosa Mercado said. "My husband told me, 'One day we're going to have a car for each of us and a house,' and I thought it was impossible."

None of it would have been possible without the amnesty law, Rosa Mercado said. Today, she and Javier have nearly paid off their new home in Perris.
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