The U.S.-Mexico border splits families, but loved ones strive to stay connected

Borderzine ^ | April 12, 2013 | Anoushka Valodya

[moonshinner_09]

EL PASO – With a Border Patrol helicopter hovering close above him, Honduran native Pedro Guzman, who was in his mid-thirties, had to choose between running away or surrendering. After seeing his fellow emigrants detained, Guzman decided to give up, but he still didn’t lose hope. He had spent three days and two nights, without food and water, crossing from Matamoros, Mexico to reach Brownsville, Texas in 1999.“I was just eating air, but I was always positive, telling myself that I was going to make it,” Guzman said. He paid $4,000 to a coyote, but was later abandoned by the smuggler to find his way to the U.S. along with a couple dozen men.Sleeping in the day and crossing at night – not only on treacherous land but also swimming through the Rio Grande –, Guzman said that he and his fellow migrants tried to be as invisible as possible while avoiding venomous creatures, such as snakes, one of which he saw crawling over one of his sleeping friends.

After being detained for days in jail, Guzman was granted admittance into the U.S. because he had received temporary protected status for having been a Hurricane Mitch victim in 1998.

As the U.S. government discusses the hot topic of immigration legislation, millions of undocumented people in the U.S. continue to live in the shadows. As if fearing Border Patrol and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents aren’t enough, undocumented people who are residing in America illegally have other big worries to contend with.

And the same can be said for their families that stay behind in their home country, waiting for their loved ones to return from the U.S.

Fearing infidelity, breaking and starting new families, contracting and spreading HIV, losing children in deportations, becoming a failure and drinking oneself

[moonshinner_09]

After being detained for days in jail, Guzman was granted admittance into the U.S. because he had received temporary protected status for having been a Hurricane Mitch victim in 1998........ Hurricane Mitch was 15 years ago.So how does he thank us->>>In 2005, his 18-year-old son and nephew joined him in the U.S. by also crossing the border illegally. Guzman paid a coyote $12,000 to bring them. Guzman now has a visa through work and plans on bringing the rest of his family once he gets his residency papers.

[GeronL]

insane

[andyk]

No, the border does not separate families. Individuals who choose to cross the border in full and knowing violation of the law separate families.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Go home. Problem solved.

[Vigilanteman]

I'm now subscribing to a magazine called International Living which is geared to a growing number of Americans considering fleeing and living abroad.

My brother has already done it. He's living in a rural area of Japan running a farm for an elderly landowner who couldn't get any native Japanese to do the work.

One of the top destinations for Americans moving abroad is Belize, an English speaking country right next door to Guatemala. It sounds very attractive-- low taxes, low cost of living, warm climate and a generally industrious people.

Why are are the people of Guatemala making the long trip here instead of right next door to Belize?

It is pretty simple. Belize enforces their damn borders and offers no freebies to slackers.

[puppypusher]

I want to see some Comprehensive, Common sense immigration policy’s in this country.

By that I mean Secure the damn border and find everyone of these damned illegals and send them from where they came.

By the way I used the two terms that liberal Commiecrats love. Comprehensive and Common Sense. But you can be damn sure they won’t support that policy.

[bgill]

Cry me a rio.