$$$ vs. ^_^-ness

In my capstone class one of the moral dilemmas which we had to make a decision about was if a mexican man who lived in poverty with his family should illegally enter america and get money for his family and bring them to america for better opportunity.  We look at the church's official view of "undocumented workers" is that they discourage people from immigrating from their country, but for those who have they wish for a way that they can "square" themselves with the government. It kind of seems like a neutral cop out, but is there sense? I say yes and so does  Martical L. Bacallao and  Paul R. Smokowiski who wrote the article The cost of getting ahead: mexican family system changes after immigration. What they did is interviewed parents and children about the effect of moving to america had on them and their family relationships. It was qualitative research meaning we weren't dealing with the average number or percentages , but in what they described similarities emerged. When studying the family you can't just look at individuals it is about who all of the pieces work together in order to create something greater than just the sum of its parts. Because the fathers would have to be gone for at least 6 month to get the rest of his family the family system would have to change.  Part of what I brought up in my class was how it would effect his family, that they might not be as happy. Then people would point out that he lived in extreme poverty and that they could die, but it is possible that the family system itself could die or at least change to where it would never be the same. We can't think that we can take out a major factor in our live and it stay the same. That is why separating when you fell like you are having problems in a marriage is the worst thing you can do. You become comfortable with them not being there and it is hard to bring them back in. Many of the children felt much closer to their mothers than their fathers and felt it hard to have a boss again once they were reunited with him. Also the executive part of the family, mother and father, had to relearn reach other. Being gone that long in such different circumstances changes people. Because they had come to america the mother usually had to start working so the family was disjointed and the children weren't raised completely by their parents. Plus the different cultural view of what the family is or what behaviors are appropriate between a parent and child are different. So even though they are "getting ahead" in the end their families really suffered for it. So is it better to be in poverty and have a good family structure or be economically growing and have a struggling family. I know what I think, but also I wont be in that kind of situation where you are desperate to get what your family needs. (There are social theorist that say part of the reason we are civilized is that we have enough food.) But maybe looking into promoting that someone be come an undocumented worker or that we try to pay for them to come to the USA is something we shouldn't do. That we should help them where they are at in what we can. Because these patterns of family decay are even common for those who immigrate legally. The clash of culture and stress on the family is evident everywhere.