Table 4.
Summary of reasons not to file a formal complaint of immigration-related mistreatment among Arizona and transnational farmworkers of Mexican descent.
| Illustrative quotes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Arizona Farmworkers | Transnational Farmworkers | |
| General fear | ||
| Fear of retaliation | Por miedo a que tomen la queja en nuestra contra/for fear they (immigration officials) will use the complaint against us | Por miedo a que haiga represarios/for fear of retaliation |
| Por miedo a en contrarse nuevamente con la persona que lo maltrato/for fear of encountering the person (immigration officer) who mistreated you | Por miedo a tener otro problema mas uno nunca sabe si al hacer una queja como te vaya/for fear of having one more problem because you do not know how making a complaint with effect you later | |
| Porque las personas tienen miedo a lo que pueda pasar despues no conocen las leyes/because the people are afraid of what could happen after (they make a complaint) because they do not know the law | Por miedo despes vayan a decir el nombre de quien los dijo relaliaton against person on his family/out of fear they (immigration officials) may say the name of the person who complained and they will retaliate against your family | |
| Por precaucion a lo que pueden hacer en contra de la familia (represalias)/out of precaution because of what could potentially happen to the family (retaliation) | ||
| Fear of losing current immigration status | Por miedo a que les quiten los papeles/for fear they (immigration) will take away legal documents | Por miedo a perder su estatus migratorio/out of fear that you might lose your immigration status |
| Por miedo a perder papeles o a ser ignorados/for fear of losing papers (legal immigration papers) or be ignored | ||
| Fear of being deported | Por miedo a que los deporten/for fear of being deported | Por miedo a una deportacion/fear of being deported |
| Por miedo, a que los detengan o los deporte/for fear that you will be detained and deported | ||
| Por miedo de que los manden para Mexico o que no los tomen en cuanta/for fear they will send you to Mexico or they will not take your complaint seriously | ||
| Other themes | ||
| Desire to avoid problems | Por miedo a enfrentarse a si mismo rasismo/for fear of confronting the same type of racism | Por miedo o simplemente no quiere uno meterse en problemas/for fear of simply not wanting to become involved in problems |
| Waist of time | El miedo a perder tiempo y papeles y dinero por dejar de trabajar/the fear of losing time, your papers, and money because you had to leave work | Por que nunca hacen nada las autoridades/because the authorities will never do anything |
| Piensan que no se les va a hacer caso… como que no vale la pena/the people think that the immigration officals are not going to do anything and it is not worth making a complaint | Por miedo a que no hagan caso o no te tomen en cuenta/the fear of no one doing anything and not taking your complaint seriously | |
| Not enough time | Por no perder el tiempo de trabajar y las vueltas que tendrian que dares/to not loose time at work with all the paperwork you will have to do | |
| Por falta de tiempo; sale uno bien cansado y pensado que va a ser ignorado si va/Due to lack of time, you leave work so tired, and think you will be ignored if you go (to make a complaint) | ||
| Rights | Por miedo por pensar que no tiene el derecho de reclamar/the fear that one thinks they do not have the right to complain Porque las personas no se sienten con el valor de hacerlo/because people may not have the courage to make a complaint |
Porque si uno no ha hecho nada incorrecto y tiene sus documentos en regla las autoridades no deben de maltratara las personas/because if one has not done anything wrong and you have your papers in order the authorities should not be mistreating people |