Suspected illegal immigrant waits to see if he’s deported

Sunday, August 31, 2008

By Karen Lee ZinerJournal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — Gustavo Cabrera rode across the U.S. border in a car trunk, sandwiched between four other men and breathing through a fist-sized hole. Hours later, the men raced from the car and hurled themselves onto a pile of people, hidden in a truck that rumbled on to Houston.

That was in 1984. Cabrera never saw Guatemala again.

In the two decades since, Cabrera built a life in Rhode Island based on shrouded identity and menial, dirty jobs. He packed fish and butchered chicken. He polished jewelry, sorted recyclables, shook vermin out of industrial laundry and scrubbed toilets.

He and his wife, who is a legal permanent resident, raised four children, whose honors certificates and sports trophies crowd their apartment shelves. Cabrera and his wife are proud that they put their children on the straight and narrow. He tells them, “Education is the key.â€