With the recession causing employers to make cuts across all industries, immigrants in the Chicago area who were already struggling in low-income work have been dealt a devastating blow.

For many immigrants, the recession means more than the loss of a job. It also means returning to their native country, either voluntarily or, particularly for those here illegally, by deportation.

“Food service, hotel work and federal tourism-related business have been impacted by the recession and these are industries that have traditionally employed immigrants,” said Edward Silverman chief of the Illinois Bureau of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, addressing the difficulties facing many of the 40,000 new legal immigrants Illinois receives every year.

“It would appear that there has been an increase in people returning to Mexico in particular, and a decrease in the number of people crossing the border,” Silverman said.

Immigrants working in labor and manufacturing have been hit especially hard by the current recession and mortgage crisis. According to Nik Theodore, director of the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois-Chicago, “Day laborers are part of that construction industry and in a housing slump there are fewer or no opportunities”

“We estimated a couple years ago that there are 117,000 people either looking for work or working as day laborers,” Theodore said, referring to a national study he conducted in 2006. “No new statistics are available, but unemployment has risen and there are fewer housing opportunities.”

He said, “The big issue right now is that the spells of unemployment are getting longer. You’re having workers [who] have been out of work for weeks or months [and] we know the number of workers going to the corners is increasing.”

The recent Republic Windows and Doors factory closing highlights a growing trend in Chicago’s immigrant community.

Due to the faltering economy, many immigrants who once had stable employment say they are losing their jobs and have nothing to fall back on.

“The majority of the workers from Republic, we are from different countries -- Mexico, South America and Central America -- and we have some people from Kenya and some people from Africa,” said Armando Robles, 39, a former employee of Republic Windows and Doors who emigrated from Mexico 20 years ago.

“Now that we are out on the street, some people don’t have documents and it’s going to be hard for these people to find a job somewhere else” Robles said. “It’s hard because they have a family and they’ve got to support their kids, and without the job. They don’t have the right to ask for unemployment, so it’s going to be worse in this economy.”

Caroline Shoenberger, an immigration attorney and advocate with the Chicago Legal Clinic said that the problems for immigrants caused by the current economic crisis do not end with unemployment.

According to Shoenberger, many immigrants who once held stable employment are now in jeopardy of being separated from their families because they have lost their jobs or their wages have been reduced.

What can undocumented workers who are in the country legally do to stay in the U.S.?

“Part of the package” Shoenberger said, is that “you have to file various applications and at some point or the other you have to show you won’t become a public charge” and obtain a sponsor.

“The people we represent are families trying to stay united,” Shoenberger said. “If you are sponsoring someone you have to show that you can make 125 percent of the poverty line.”

The recession has sent many immigrant families in Chicago below the poverty line, putting them in jeopardy of being unable to continue sponsoring relatives.

“It depends how big your family is,” Shoenberger said, but “under the old [2008] guidelines, for an average family of four you have to make $26,500.”

For undocumented immigrants facing deportation, such as Jose Herrera, 25, and his family, the economy has only added to a stressful situation.

“It is true in my case, you know, I don’t have that money right now,” Herrera said. “But that’s OK. I know God will provide in the worst scenarios. I’m not worried where I’m going to eat tonight because I know somewhere I will be able to eat something.”

Herrera said, “The main reason we’re fighting the case is because of [my son]. Not because of what I have done here, but because of him. He’s a U.S. citizen.” In the worst-case scenario, he said, “I will be leaving, sent to Mexico, and then I’ve got to figure out, you know, what’s going to happen with my kid.”