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Marketplace: “One home, Two nations”

Today, most news sources’ headline story was “The Day without Immigrants.” From Los Angeles to New York to my hometown of Milwaukee, thousands marched to protest proposed immigration laws.

NPR’s Marketplace radio show (“One home, Two nations“) has a wonderful portrayal of two friends–Francisco Castro and Luis Molina–and their decision of whether or not to move to the U.S. Francisco decided to make the move and has made his family more affluent. He often sends money back to his hometown of Chinameca, El Salvador. According to the CIA World Factbook, 16.6% of El Salvador’s GDP comes from foreign remittances to residents.

On the other hand, Luis decided that breaking up his family–even temporarily–was too big a risk for him to take. He is educating his children in El Salvador and hoping that his country gives them sufficient opportunities to succeed in the future.

Read the transcript or listen to the report; my summary does not do it justice.