Her abode, a shoe-box located near a subway platform, barely resembles a place where she could rest her head after a daily l6-hour work regimen in a nearby nursing home. Instead, her place is littered with yet unpacked freight boxes and loaded luggage containing, she said, "things she wants to take home in case she gets picked up by immigration agents and sent back to Cagayan De Oro, in the Philippines." "I am always ready," she added with a humble smile.

In one of those so-called "Balikbayan boxes" [cardboard boxes that hold objects sent by Filipinos through mail or brought along on flights], Dolores keeps a small wooden box of extreme value: her husband's ashes.

Upon arrival, 50-year old Rodrigo C., along with Dolores, started work as a nursing assistant for a staffing agency, which placed them in several facilities around New York City. Their combined income managed to send their daughter to nursing school in Davao City, Philippines.

All that changed, however, one afternoon in April 2008, when Rodrigo suffered a stroke and died. Being undocumented, the couple could not have health insurance, which if they were able to get, could have saved Rodrigo's life. Apparently, according to Dolores, Rodrigo told her of random symptoms in the months prior to the fatal attack. But like most people living in the shadows, such conditions are more a matter of faith than medicine.

"We just prayed that the symptoms would not lead to something more serious," Dolores relayed. "We just put it in God's hands."

Illegal immigrants do not get afforded quality care like everyone else who is in the country legally. Although most hospitals would have treated Rodrigo of his earlier symptoms with their charity care programs, those, however, would have been limited to emergency care only and not the necessary maintenance care and medicines required to prolong his life. Besides, most these undocumented aliens would not even dare check themselves in for fear of getting picked up and deported.

While quality of life is a real issue with illegal immigrants, an aspect of their lives that they often disregard is quality of death. In Rodrigo's case, it was a horrible death.

"If he (Rodrigo) knew he would die like that, he would have chosen to die in Cagayan De Oro rather than here in New York," Dolores said with obvious contempt. "He died alone. I wasn't even there to hold his hand. He died knowing that he could have lived if we had the right papers."

When she found Rodrigo's lifeless body, she called for help. Rodrigo went straight to the morgue, as he was dead even before they laid him on the gurney. Dolores, with their little savings, decided to have his remains cremated. Now it is in her luggage, encased in a simple urn inside a wooded box.

As immigration reform makes a return trip to Capitol Hill via a bill sponsored by Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), the debate to legalize the 12 million undocumented aliens like Dolores rages on. The bill promises a path to legalization for the undocumented and includes border security and guest worker programs.

With this initiative, pro-immigrant groups are asking President Obama to step up his commitment to immigration reform by making it a priority for 2010.

According to Atty. Jesus Martin Reyes, a prominent immigration lawyer in New York, reform must happen now: "The new president was voted by the people mainly because of his platform for reform. Since that was the voice of the electorate, then Congress, as representatives of the electorate, should support not only healthcare reform, but also immigration reform, among others."

"Ideally, the only way to have this great country moving forward without legalizing illegal immigrants is to automate everything from personal care of the sick and the elderly to the justice system," Reyes continued.

"But this is not realizable and worse would go against humanitarian values. I can't think of any better alternative than to legalize these illegal immigrants. Let them come into the open and have their fare share in the progress of the United States."

Another top New York lawyer, Atty. Felix Vinluan shares the sentiment: "Any immigration reform law must take into account the fact that there are millions of undocumented individuals in this country, most of who contribute to the underground economy. These individuals need to come out of the shadows and be made to pay the proper taxes and assimilate into the community's culture. Subjecting them to removal proceedings would not stop the migration of people."

While the issue obviously needs resolution, proponents of reform do not see a smooth road ahead since many lawmakers are opposed to providing legal status to the undocumented. To them, the whole thing is simply rewarding criminals who violated the law by crossing the border or overstaying their visitor's visa. It is nothing short of amnesty for them.

However, Atty. Reyes believes reform does not constitute amnesty. "The legalization program requires compliance with the prevailing law," Reyes said. "Immigration reform is simply amending the law to be more consistent with the demands of the times. Since there can be no better alternative available, why not proceed with the only remaining option."

In 2007, Congress came close to passing a comprehensive immigration reform bill, which was backed by then President George W. Bush:

"We were excited about that bill," Dolores said. "But when it did not pass, we were very disappointed."

When told that a new bill was filled in the House of Representative and might see the light of day, Dolores said that if it passes, it would be for her Rodrigo, whose ashes she plans to take back to their hometown when she's finally out of the shadows.