Viajeros del Sur

Story by Antonio Sarabia

Legend has it that centuries ago, the ancestors of the Aztecs came from the north in a search for a better life. Poorly fed and badly clothed, they emigrated from their lands in search of new and more prosperous horizons. Despite hardship and suffering along the way, they found their place in a marshy lake in central Mexico surrounded by other hostile tribes. They settled and prospered, growing into one of the largest empires in the American continent.

Irony is abundant throughout the course of history. Centuries later, people from Mexico and other countries in Latin America now venture north for the same reasons as their ancestors did before them.

The search for a better life has been one of the driving forces for the evolution of human creativity, intellect and culture. It is a simple concept. We all have that drive to make our existence more convenient, more stable, and more pleasurable, though for some a better life means making existence at least more bearable.

Present politics and social circumstances place people in strange situations. Each one of these travelers from the south has his or her own story. Whether young or old, women or men, they are writing their own stories, trying their luck in the pursuit of a dream.

A YOUNG GENERATION...

“Ok, What do you want to know?” said Josue Garcia

He sat in a relaxed manner, yet he still seemed a bit unsure. He did not want his true name to be published.

Garcia is an engineering student at Sacramento City College and an excellent bass player with an unconventional secret that most people would never imagine if they meet him. He has almost no accent and looks like a well-dressed rocker. Anybody could easily think that he had been born in the United States. He is a Mexican immigrant. He is not a citizen. He is not even a legal resident. He lives in a limbo where, technically, he does not exist.

The task of telling his story was not a particularly easy one. After some small talk he started from the beginning. Like most stories of people like him, this one starts years ago in Mexico.

Garcia was born in Mexico City 22 years ago in a lower middle-class family. In 1989, economic instability made his parents make a decision that would change his life forever. He left his homeland and came to the United States to begin a new (and bittersweet) life where years of struggle would ensue.

“My parents had stable jobs,” he said, “but because of politics one day you would be working for the state, the next you’d have to go somewhere else,” said Garcia.

His father came over before the rest of the family. His uncle convinced his father to get a job in the U.S., to bring his family and try his luck over here. His father agreed and began working in a wood welding company. “I did not want to come, but it was a decision my parents had taken, supposedly to give us a better life,” he remembers.

Garcia’s trip over was considerably easier than that of most immigrants. He arrived by plane with a temporary visa. The difference between Mexico and the United States became apparent the minute the young boy arrived. Seeing the modern cars, the malls, the people made a strong impression. He found himself in a completely new world than the one he had been used to in Mexico.

“It was material things basically that I saw different. There was also less family to interact with. Just not having any friends, not knowing anybody, not knowing the language,” said Garcia.

At 9 years old, the young boy came to finish third grade in a public school. His brother was lucky enough to get a teacher who knew a little Spanish; unfortunately it was not the same for him.

“I was going to finish third grade and there was nobody to help me out. You (were) on your own, good luck, you know,” he said. In the beginning school was a hard place to be. The only place in which Garcia felt comfortable was during recess where he did not have to deal with conversations.

The process of adaptation is one that every immigrant must face in order to survive. For Garcia and thousands of kids who have been, and still are, in the same position it is a difficult task.

“You try to adapt but it’s not like here; next morning you already adapted. During class, the students would take out their English books and you would just sit there and stare at it, and be thinking: ‘what the hell?’”

It took more than a year for Garcia to actually communicate with other people in English. It would take years before he would be fully adapted to his life in the United States.

As a kid he understood little of his circumstances. He still did not have to worry about the problems that illegal immigrants like him face every day. Eventually he would come to understand his grim reality.

In high school, after he took a drafting class he decided to pursue a career in engineering. Preventing him from pursuing his goal was the matter of his legal status.*

“Since high school I had grades that would get me into anywhere I wanted to go,” he explained. “I could have chosen any college, whether it was Cal Poly or Stanford. I could not even apply because I did not have a Social Security number or (legal) papers.”

Most UCs and state universities require both things to allow a student to be enrolled. Garcia would also be unable to apply for any type of financial aid. With thousands of immigrants from every part of the globe to the United States, there are hundreds of students left in the same position. Without papers, no matter how intelligent or able a student is, a good higher education is virtually out of reach.

“People don’t really think it’s a big problem. They never see it. It’s not like there are just a 100 people in this situation; there is a whole state.” Garcia has met a number of people in his same situation.

It was at the very last moment in high school that a Davis counselor was able to get him a student number so that at least he would be able to enroll at Sacramento City College.

“I should have been out of college by now,” he says after a chuckle, “but I’m still there.”

Work is another problem for Garcia. Work is not hard to come by– that is if he wants to mow lawns or be a waiter or work in the fields. He is only able to get jobs in which little questions are asked and where the pay is pretty much a pathetic sum. It’s hard to imagine how a guy that had the grades to get into Cal Poly had been reduced to moving boxes.

Garcia would rather have a job in his area of study but the chances of that are slim. “There are a lot of internships in Caltrans for civil engineering,” he says, “but the first thing they ask is for a driver’s license or that you have to be a citizen or resident.” Ironically, Garcia currently works for a moving company that moves furniture for Caltrans.

“A guy in my engineering class who works at Caltrans class saw me working and asked me why I did not try to get an internship here,” he said. “ ‘You were better than me in engineering class.’ he said to me. I can’t just say I’m an illegal alien so I just have to play it off.”

Garcia’s frustration became apparent many times during the conversation. “I just keep studying and trying to get whatever jobs I can. It’s not easy. I see all the financial problems and the problems with the papers and it kind of discourages you,” he said. “I kind of want to motivate myself but it’s like f***. It’s just a smack in the face. I’m cruising along but it’s hard.”

Under his current situation, Garcia is presented with a difficult dilemma. He has been living in the United States for most of his life. His language is predominantly English. His lifestyle is that of any natural born American. Yet without papers, a person like Garcia can’t get a Social Security number, a driver’s license or an ID. These vital forms of identification prevent him from legally working or driving or getting financial aid or medical coverage or bank accounts. And since September of last year, people like Garcia can’t even get on a plane. Add to that the fear of getting caught.

And what of those that say that if it’s so bad here they can go back to their own country?

“They want to wash their hands,” he said. “First of all the decision was not mine but I adapted; I lived my whole life here. I’m a Mexican but I was only 8 or 9 when I came. I’m even more fluent in English than Spanish. Besides, people come because they want a better life. Anyone would do it. If they offered a better job in Nevada or New York and you are willing to sacrifice what you have in California most people would do it. We sacrifice our families, our culture and our way of life just to better ourselves, to get more out of life. You come to this country for that reason, and its not like we are stealing their jobs. How many gringos have you seen working the fields or the canneries? “

He sighs and looks down at his hands. “Sometimes you want to give up but you can’t.”

AN OLDER GENERATION...

“One of my dreams was to come visit Disneyland,” said Salvador Rodriguez, after which he chuckled. “It’s crazy, you know; other people dream about Disneyland too.”

He sat in a lawn chair in the backyard of his home shirtless and smiling, quite glad to be talking. His accent gave away his original nationality.

Rodriguez was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1952. His parents passed away when he was 10. To survive he got a job fixing radios. Later he began working for a Coca-Cola bottling plant. He only completed sixth grade. After a few years working, tired of his life in Mexico, he decided to venture north.

He traveled by bus to Tijuana where he stayed for a year before he crossed over to the United States. Rodriguez entered the country in 1977.

“I didn’t have no papers, so like every other immigrant you got to jump the border and cross the mountains. You never know, sometimes you face some kind of danger on your way. Some people walk three or four days, day and night. I was pretty lucky, I crossed the hills overnight.”

Rodriguez’ first stop was Los Angeles. He was unsuccessful at finding a job so he had to depend on friends living in a crowded apartment with little money or possessions.

“I was living with a bunch of homies. Yeah, you’d be surprised; we were like sardinas, six or eight guys. But you know, if you’re picky you’ll never make it.”

After a year he moved to Sacramento where he had some family. He went without employment for another year before he started his first job.

“I was pretty lucky. My cousin was a cook and he told me he could get me in working for McDonalds and I says, ‘hell, that would be cool.’ I worked for McDonalds for about 14 years.”

He was 26 when he started.

“I still remember my first paycheck, man. When I had it on my hand and looked at it, I still remember, it was $349. I said ,Man, this is a lot of money,’ a lot of difference of the work in Mexico. For me it was a lot. The first thing I bought was a ’64 Impala, low rider. That was my dream man.” For five years Rodriguez used a fake Social Security and ID under the name of “Jose Casanova.”

“When I met my wife back then I was still ‘Jose Casanova’ and she didn’t know my real name. So I told her. Afterwards she was kind of shaking, you know what I mean?”

Later on, Rodriguez changed jobs. He has been working as a janitor for the school district since then. He now owns his own house, lives with his wife and three sons.

A big part of his life revolves around family but not everything is always perfect. He is faced with a predicament common to immigrants with children born in the United States. The inevitable consequence of having a father born in Mexico with sons born here is not a generational gap but also a cultural one.

“I’m more American than Mexican and he is the other way around,” says Jose, one of Rodriguez’s sons. “We suffer from his barrier; it’s a combination just cultural and education. I can’t really relate to his story. I know where he is coming from but I have no means to respond to something like that. But I admire all he had to go through.”

Yet Rodriguez is still optimistic and content with the life he’s had. Working as a janitor may not be exactly the ideal of success for most Americans, but his perspective about life and work is also much different than that of most people.

“I came here, got married, had children and became a citizen. I live the American dream. I can say I’m okay. Sometimes it crosses my mind, what would have happened if I had stayed? I would probably be working in some factory, and you know, there aren’t many doors to open there. (Mexico) is pretty tough to grow up, but it’s a beautiful country.” Rodriguez paused and gave a sigh.

The conversation eventually took us to the various anti-immigrant laws in the last few years, Proposition 187 among them.

“The American people worry about this country taking a lot of immigrants, and I don’t blame them,” he said. “Everybody wants a piece. But they should know, immigrants built this nation. This country doesn’t belong to America or to black people, or to Mexicans or whatever. It belongs to everybody. Everybody is part of it, everybody has the right to dream.”

THE BIG PICTURE...

According to the Immigration and Naturalization Service report on immigration it is estimated that there may be more than 6 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, most of them of Mexican origin.

California’s agricultural economy is one of the wealthiest and most productive in the world. This industry employs a large majority of Mexican immigrants in their fields to harvest grapes, oranges, lettuce, strawberries, peaches, asparagus and any other crop imaginable. Hundreds of immigrants work without legal papers and some toil 10-hour days at minimum wage or less.

Their buying power ranges in the billions. Any immigrant worker, illegal or not, pays taxes and enjoys few benefits. They seldom complain and have little union power for fear of deportation.

There have been numerous waves of anti-immigrant sentiment. In 1994, with the support of Gov. Pete Wilson, Proposition 187 was approved by more than 60 percent of the voters in CA. Among other things, the proposition would deny emergency medical care to illegal immigrants, as well as denying basic schooling and social services to their children. The governor shamelessly called the plan SOS (Save our State). The courts deemed the proposition unconstitutional.

Despite numerous attempts at strengthening the barrier of passage to foreigners, people still venture to the prospect of a more prosperous life. It is estimated that despite the best efforts of the border patrol, at least 300,000 immigrants enter illegally each year or overstay their visas.

Since 2000, more than 400 people lost their lives while trying to cross the U.S.-Mexican border. Most of the deaths were due to the long and hot desert walks they had to make to get across.

The United States only gives a certain number of visas each year to people who want to come into the country legally. A prerequisite for a visa usually involves having a stable job and some money saved in the country of origin. People who immigrate seldom have either.

One can only imagine how much worse things have gotten since the Sept. 11 attacks. The country’s obsession with security has taken its toll and vanished the hopes of immigrants trying to fix their situation.

It is hard for people in the United States to really understand the drive that makes people from all over the world completely change their lifestyle by leaving their country. Many Americans fail to see the sacrifice made by immigrants in giving up their culture, friends, family and way of life to come here and at least try to be something more.

Perhaps we’ve forgotten the fact that, except for Native Americans, everybody in this country is a descendant of immigrants. With the present policies and xenophobic sentiments that seems to be case.