Thread: Deported Immigrants Struggle To Re-Enter U.S.

Deported Immigrants Struggle To Re-Enter U.S.
by Jason Beaubien


Morning Edition, December 2, 2008 · The U.S. government deports hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to Mexico each year, and the majority of them are dropped just across the border.

In the past, many of these migrants would immediately try to cross back into U.S. But now, with the economic downturn and beefed-up security measures along the border, an increasing number are saying it's not worth the trouble.

The streets of Nogales, Sonora, just across Arizona's southern border, are crawling with deportees. Some of them are covered in prison and gang tattoos. Others are down-on-their-luck men who used to do construction work in California or wash dishes in Chicago. Many are sleeping on the streets.

Roberto Reyes, who is originally from Honduras, had been working for five years in a restaurant in Miami, until, he says, he was arrested for drunk driving. The 40-year-old Reyes was deported in September, and he says he immediately tried to cross back through the desert.

"I walked for six days, but I didn't make it across," Reyes says. "Now I've just returned."

He was caught by the Border Patrol and deported again to Nogales.

Reyes has two young daughters and a wife in Miami, but he says getting back to them in the States right now is too difficult.

"There are a lot more border guards, and it costs a lot more to cross than in the past," Reyes says. "And the risk is that you could die in the desert."

For the past few days, Reyes has been sleeping on the streets in Nogales. He says he hopes to get some work here so that he can buy a bus ticket back home to Honduras.

Assisting The Immigrants

The Mexican government offers limited assistance to deportees. The dusty office of governmental agency Grupo Beta in Nogales overflows with migrants, while its representatives patrol the nearby desert and provide water to would-be border crossers. Grupo Beta also offers discounted bus tickets to migrants who want to go back to their villages.

Enrique Enriquez Palafox, the coordinator of the office, says in the past many migrants would spend a few days or maybe a week in Nogales before trying to cross into the U.S. again. Now he says far more are heading south.

In 2007, Enriquez says, the office helped 689 people return home in the whole year. So far in 2008 it has helped more than 6,000.

"They're seeing that it's more difficult," he says. "There isn't as much work in the United States. There are fewer possibilities to cross, and they're saying, 'Hey, I'm going to go back to my city; I'm going to go back to my family.' "

'Just Keep On Trying'

But there are also those who say staying in Mexico is not an option.

"I was raised in the United States," says one man, who sits about 20 yards from the rusty metal fence that's keeping him out of Arizona. He doesn't want to be identified because he is waiting for an opportunity to break the law and jump the wall. "They took me when I was 5 years old to California. I'm 45 years old and I just got deported. I have to go back with my family. I don't have nothing here in Mexico. All my family is in California. I have five children — I have two in Iraq right now, fighting for their country. Which I believe is my country too, because I was raised up there."

The man used to paint houses in San Bernardino, east of Los Angeles, but business wasn't going so well. He got deported, he says, after police came to his house over a domestic dispute.

"So I was losing my house, and I got depressed," he says. "Started arguing with my wife because of the bills and everything. That's when my neighbor called the cops on me."

He denies hitting his wife and says the police never pursued the domestic violence charge. But they did hand him over to the immigration authorities. Originally he was deported to Tijuana, but after he tried to cross there, the Border Patrol bused him 500 miles east to Nogales.

Miles and miles of the new fence stretch out from this rough border town into the desert. Border Patrol agents guard the frontier in a parade of four-wheelers — from massive Ford Excursions down to one-man all-terrain vehicles. They have night vision goggles, high-tech cameras, remote sensors and motion detectors.

"That's what they're doing, and it's very hard right now," the man says. "But you're going to have to keep on trying if you want to be with your loved ones. Just keep on trying. No matter what. No matter what it takes."

'They Think We Are Criminals'

Last year the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, ICE, deported 350,000 illegal immigrants. This was a 20 percent increase from the year before. Most were deported just across the border into Mexico.

One thousand miles east of Nogales, the Mexican city of Reynosa sits opposite McAllen, Texas. At the Casa del Migrante in Reynosa, dozens of deportees say Grace before dinner.

The shelter run is by nuns, and it used to offer a meal and a bed to men heading north. Now it's overflowing with people heading south.

The shelter has space for 40 people, but lately two to three times that many have been sleeping here. Juan Garcia, 23, was released into Reynosa from ICE custody earlier in the day.

"We just go over there to work, and they think we are criminals, everybody is criminals," Garcia says.

Garcia was picked up in April during an ICE raid on a chicken processing plant in Arkansas. Agents fanning out across five states arrested several hundred illegal immigrants working at Pilgrim's Pride facilities. Under a relatively new ICE practice, most of the illegal immigrants swept up in the workplace raids — including Garcia — were charged with identity theft and other crimes.

Garcia served a six-month sentence in an Arkansas state prison. He says his three kids are all U.S. citizens.

"My older one is going to turn 7 in December," Garcia says. "My second one just turned 5 in September, and the other one is 3."

The kids are with his mother-in-law in Arkansas. His wife died a year ago in a car accident, and now, he says, his kids are without parents.

Garcia came to the U.S. with his father when he was 13, he says. When he was caught, he had been packing chickens for three years in a job that paid $6.75 per hour.

"The Americans don't like to work in a job that we would do," Garcia says. "They only want the easy jobs and the well-paid, and we took any job that they have for us."

A six-month prison term, an order to leave the country, a new fence that stretches for miles and miles along the border — Garcia says these things aren't going to stop him. Eventually, he says, he'll be back in Arkansas with his children.

www.npr.org

"We just go over there to work, and they think we are criminals, everybody is criminals," Garcia says. <<<<< If you jumped the border, YOU ARE A CRIMINAL!

Under a relatively new ICE practice, most of the illegal immigrants swept up in the workplace raids — including Garcia — were charged with identity theft and other crimes. <<<< There is ANOTHER crime!


"The Americans don't like to work in a job that we would do," Garcia says. "They only want the easy jobs and the well-paid, and we took any job that they have for us." <<<< BULL! These used to be good paying jobs until greedy Corporations found out they could get illegals to do them. YOUR own Father sold YOU out and put you to work at the ripe old age of 13!

Why is someone makinging $6.75 an hour having three kids? Poverty is not a problem because of the Socialist welfare system in the US.

One illlegal alien that shouldn't be here creates three US welfare dependents. That's just irresponsible procreation. If you can not afford to care for and provide for your children, don't have them.

Not to mention, considering his salary he didn't pay the hospital delivery bill either at $14,000 (or more) each birth, which is his annual gross income(before taxes).

Deporting him is cheep compared to what his children are costing us.

Illegal immigration is too costly for America to continue to pay for.

Dixie

"The Americans don't like to work in a job that we would do," Garcia says. "They only want the easy jobs and the well-paid, and we took any job that they have for us."

In my area, the illegals work in construction and roofing. The guy who cleans the dog poop from my yard is an American student, working for an American family business.

A six-month prison term, an order to leave the country, a new fence that stretches for miles and miles along the border — Garcia says these things aren't going to stop him. Eventually, he says, he'll be back in Arkansas with his children.

I hope you get five years in prison the next time you're caught in the United States!

The fact these illegal scofflaws are sre so willing to attempt re-entry after deportation, speaks volumes as to our governments unwillingness/failure to prosecute these people for the FELONY CRIME of illegal re-entry after a formal order of deportation has been executed against them!

Especially those who have been deported for committing violent felonies and or other crimes in this country. That's an absolute disgrace on the part of our government!

This whole article is about the excuse.

The But, but, bu excuse.

But I had a job. But my parents brought me over here. But I have children.

No buts about it, they are all illegal aliens.

I'm going to rag on the dead beat dad Garcia again... He's going on and on but not going to work and sending money to his kids. It's all about him getting back to his children's welfare and possibly the mother's social security that is now going to those children. If he can just get back into the US, that will be his money, which is about equal to his former take home pay. It's not about being a good father and family, it's about reuniting with the cash cows.

It's all about using their children.

Dixie

Originally Posted by Dixie

Why is someone makinging $6.75 an hour having three kids? Poverty is not a problem because of the Socialist welfare system in the US.

One illlegal alien that shouldn't be here creates three US welfare dependents. That's just irresponsible procreation. If you can not afford to care for and provide for your children, don't have them.

Not to mention, considering his salary he didn't pay the hospital delivery bill either at $14,000 (or more) each birth, which is his annual gross income(before taxes).

Deporting him is cheep compared to what his children are costing us.

Illegal immigration is too costly for America to continue to pay for.

Dixie

Good points Dixie! Everything the illegal invader does is out of self-preservation, and is ALWAYS, to the detriment of our country and way of life!