By Lake Coreth, News Editor -

You may not have tasted the differ­ence, but the sandwiches made in the centerline of the Eagle’s Nest Dining Hall are prepared with “mucho amor.” Going on her eleventh year as a Boston College employee, Ana Valdez-Jimenez proudly attends to the regulars of this busy lunch-time hotspot, even consider­ing them an extension of her own family — her hijos, or children.

But whereas many of our narra­tives began here at BC, the University is merely the happy ending of Ana’s story. Ana’s journey began in Cali, Colombia, over 30 years ago, but much takes place here in the United States. Hers is a story that is all too common, but one that of­ten goes untold: that of a naturalized il­legal immigrant.

According to the PEW Hispanic Center, a project of the PEW research center, people of Colombian origin com­prise the seventh largest Hispanic group living in the United States (the most of any South American country.) While only 40 percent of Hispanic population as a whole were born elsewhere, just un­der 70 percent of Colombians are for­eign born. The majority of Colombian immigrants are relatively new additions. 59 percent of all Colombians arrived in the United States during or after 1990.

Ana, on the other hand, arrived in the United States in the early 1980s, a decade which averaged only 180,000 unauthorized immigrant entries per year (compared to the 850,000 unauthorized entries between 2000 and 2005.) She came to the United States with her hus­band, Umberto, and her five-year old daughter, Marisol, in search of higher paying job opportunities. Her fam­ily lived briefly in Miami before settling down in Boston.

During her first five years illegally in the United States, Ana worked in the Prudential Center as a member of the housekeeping staff. She took late-night and early-morning shifts to care for her daughter. Marisol, who is mentally hand­icapped, needs special care and atten­tion. Ana can only describe her routine at the time as “fatigosa,” exhausting.

With the passing of the Immigra­tion Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986, the lives of Ana and her family were drastically transformed — and im­proved — forever.

Enacted under the Reagan Admin­istration to curtail further unauthorized immigration, the IRCA implemented employer sanctions, designating pen­alties for companies who hired illegal workers and using these funds to bolster other plans to reduce illegal immigra­tion.

What is essential to Ana’s story is the amnesty provision that was included in the legislation. Repealing sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, the act granted illegal immigrants the opportunity to apply for legal resi­dent status and obtain green cards, pro­vided that they could prove that they had been living continuously in the United States since before Jan. 1, 1982. Luckily, Ana and her family fit the bill.

“Fue una bendición enorme,” it was an enormous blessing, Ana says of the amnesty clause. Finally, she could provide her disabled daughter with the medical attention that she desperately needed and Ana and her husband could live “en paz,” in peace, for the first time in their 14 years of marriage.

After obtaining legal permanent residency under the IRCA, Ana went on to become a naturalized citizen. She and her family now belong to the 45 per­cent of Colombians in this country who enjoy U.S. citizenship. Internal crises in Colombia beginning in the early 1990s, and reaching a peak between 1999 and 2001, have since compelled many Co­lombians to leave their country.

In 2001, just under two-thirds of the Colombian population lived below the poverty line. The country’s gross do­mestic product had plummeted from 5.5 percent in 1995 to negative 4.5 percent in 1999, and emigration reflected these numbers. The Colombian Administra­tive Department of Security (DAS) doc­umented that approximately 1.6 million Colombians migrated out of the country and did not return between 1996 and mid-2003.

Political insecurity and the growing danger civilians face in the crossfire pro­duced by drug-related battles, continue to prompt many Colombians to leave their homeland. Human rights violations ranging from torture to sexual violence are continuously reported on by interna­tional organizations such as the Human Rights Watch.

Recently, this organization has urged President Obama to ratify the pending US-Colombian Free Trade Agreement contingent on the promise that the Uribe Administration will respect basic principles of “human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.”

Despite the conditions in Colom­bia, Ana remains optimistic. After 30 years of hard work in the United States, she and her husband were able to buy a home in Colombia and their dream remains to one day retire in their home­land. At the moment, her siblings are living in this house until Ana and her family return, which she hopes will be within the next five years.

Despite the instability that continues to afflict Colombia, Ana has retained ro­mantic memories of ‘la sucursal del cie­lo,’ an epithet for her hometown of Cali that likens it to ‘a little bit of heaven.’ She looks forward to one day participat­ing in the festivals she once took part in as a young girl, but, in the meantime, she is the happiest she has ever been in the United States working here at Boston College.

“Me disfruto mucho mi trabajo,” I truly enjoy my job, Ana says. “Soy con­tenta aquí.” I am happy here.