Deported make new life steps away from their old home

Vendors at the border crossing lived in the United States

Por: Alexandra Mendoza 19 Julio 2011 @ 8:58 am
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TIJUANA – They admit their mistakes. And now they see tough work as a second opportunity, and a hope that someday they will be able to rejoin their families.

The more than 50,000 motorists who pass through the San Ysidro border crossing daily encounter an army of vendor selling tourist trinkets.

What the crossers don’t know is the circumstances that brought these workers there.

Many were deported from the United States and arrived in the city without knowing anyone, without a roof over their head nor any money to contact their family.

Many in their shoes found refuge in alcohol and drugs, sleeping under bridges in the streets next to avenida Internacional, steps away from the border. Many planned to make their way back to the United States somehow.

But others have found work in a place they know will be their new home, where they can occasionally see their loved ones.

Cuauhtémoc Meza Pérez, 35, is one of them. The native of Sinaloa was deported six months ago and now spends his days selling items to the motorists traveling through the border crossing.

“It’s difficult to get here and begin from zero,â€