A verdadeira face de imigração americana: trabalhadores de manutenção na ponte que foi derrubada - CNN Meanwhile in America

The true face of immigration

Stephen Collinson, Caitlin Hu and Shelby Rose

CNN Meanwhile in America, March 28, 2024

Baltimore was sleeping when the fully laden cargo ship, adrift and without power, slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, bringing it down in seconds. 

Had the disaster taken place during the daytime, hundreds of cars and trucks could have been on the bridge over a channel leading to one of the busiest ports on the east coast. So it was a mercy it happened in the early hours and that police got sufficient warning to stop vehicles from driving onto the bridge.

But the six people presumed dead from the tragedy couldn't escape. They were maintenance workers — the kind of people few notice but who do tough jobs through the night to keep the country running.

All of those missing were immigrants, outsiders who had come to the US from Central and South America for a better life. Their stories and aspirations mirrored the lives of millions of new entrants to the United States. They are far more representative of the migrant population than the extremist, often racist picture spouted about migrants by Donald Trump. The Republican presumptive nominee often falsely claims foreign countries are entering their asylums and jails to send their “worst people” as a de-facto invasion force to the US. Trump’s demonization of immigrants who are trying to cross into the country illegally, who he claims are “poisoning the blood” of the country, often feels like a shorthand condemnation of migrants as a whole.

One of the missing in Baltimore is father-of-three Miguel Luna, from El Salvador, who has lived in Maryland for 19 years. Maynor Yassir Suazo, a Honduran father of two, is also missing. He has lived in the US for 18 years and has an 18-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter. Two Guatemalans are also unaccounted for. And three Mexicans were among the crew working on the bridge. One was rescued from the frigid waters below and two are yet to be found. 

Often, migrants do jobs that other people don’t want to do – the ones with the lowest wages and the worst conditions. Some do so to support families in the US and to lay the foundation of better lives for their children and grandchildren. Many send money home to support relatives who live in far less affluent economies. Mexican immigrant workers for instance transferred more than $60 billion in remittances to their country in 2023, according to Mexico’s central bank.

The sacrifices of those missing, presumed dead in Baltimore on Monday night might be worth remembering when the anti-immigrant rhetoric cranks up again in the run-up to November’s presidential election. 

And when the Francis Scott Key Bridge rises again, it's a good bet it will be immigrants who are building it.