Immigrants in a squeeze

[Renew Deal]

Danny Muriel doesn't want his family back in Colombia to know anything's changed. So when he steps up to Envios money transfer desk on Broadway in Washington Heights, he forks over $100 more every two weeks to send back home.
That's because value of the dollar has plunged by 16% against the Colombian peso since last spring.

The downward spiral in the dollar against almost every major foreign currency has put an extra strain on already overburdened budgets across New York's immigrant communities - from Brighton Beach to Washington Heights. Here, breadwinners are often the sole support of thousands of families in scores of countries from Latin America to Eastern Europe.

Immigrants in the city sent $10 billion to their relatives back home in 2004, according to Celent Communications - up 10% from the previous year.

Muriel, a 28-year-old speech therapist who moved here from Colombia two years ago, shoulders the financial burden for five relatives: his grandparents, aunt and a pair of cousins.
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http://www.nydailynews.com/03-07-2005/business/story/287501p-246165c.html