Recent arrivals recount dangers of journey to U.S.

By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

April 14, 2008

The recent journey from a small town in northern Guatemala to the Rancho Bernardo corner where he waits for construction work in the mornings was harrowing for Juan Aguirres.


Aguirres, 21, who left home last month, spent more than two weeks riding northbound buses through Mexico en route to the Texas border, where he was smuggled into the United States. Along the way he was extorted about half a dozen times by Mexican authorities, he said.

“The police would ask me where I was going,â€