Aging in the shadows: A crisis of older undocumented workers awaits Illinois

CHICAGO — In a cold basement apartment on the Southwest Side, Gregorio Pillado and Martina Alonso count pennies and pray for relief.

Pillado, 79, has been working at a nearby meatpacking plant for 20 years, lifting thousands of pounds of frozen meats into large vats, eight hours a day, five days a week. His $16 an hour pretax is the married couple’s only source of income. With it, they manage to pay for their groceries, medicines, utilities and their $800 monthly rent — but not much else.

Alonso, 69, used to bring in money by catering small parties and selling bags of chopped-up nopales (prickly pear), but she had to stop after she fell and injured her wrist months ago.

Pillado’s health has declined dramatically over the last few years. First he had to get a pacemaker implanted. Then he had surgery to remove a hernia. Now he has another hernia, but he doesn’t know whether he’ll be able to get it removed. His health problems make him incapable of handling his old workloads, and he worries about if — or when