Crossing the border: First-person accounts

Imagine being so afraid for your life and your children’s lives that you’re willing to do something you know is dangerous, illegal and probably unsuccessful. That’s the risk many Latin Americans face when they choose to leave their homes in hopes of crossing the border into the United States.

So why would anyone take out a loan they might never be able to repay, put their life into a stranger's hands and make a grueling trip with no guarantee of success?

Here, you'll read interviews with three women — all mothers of children sponsored through Children International. The mothers (all names have been changed) talk about the factors influencing their decisions to flee, the great risks they took and the danger involved in making the journeys. Two made it; another was less fortunate.

Finally, you'll read an interview with a CI staff member in Honduras who discusses how staff there are working to discourage families from illegal immigration. The good news: Children International, a humanitarian organization working to end global poverty by focusing on kids, is making in-roads in convincing families of the dangers.

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CI: Why did your son decide to leave Guatemala?

Martina: Because there were no job opportunities in the community, and he wanted to help his family. The salary is very low in Guatemala. It’s low even for educated people and professionals. So, it is much lower for someone who is just a peasant.

In many poor Guatemalan communities, jobs are scarce — forcing some families to extreme measures such as crossing the border to find work.

Can you provide any other information about your child’s situation?

He arrived well to the United States. He is already working and has a very good salary. He is living with a friend.

We talk by phone weekly; he is in good health and tells me nice things. He says that, in the USA, people throw away food. "If you could see, Mom," he says, "here people serve large amounts of food and throw away a lot, too. And to think that many in Guatemala have nothing to eat."

How many members are in your family?

There are 12 in the family, but only 7 people live at home. Another of my sons migrated years ago, but he went to Canada to farm. And my oldest daughters are married and left home.

How long had your son been thinking about making the journey?

He did not hesitate long. The time it took was the time it took to get the personal loan to pay the “coyote.”

Did he go alone?

[He went] with the coyote and a group, but no one we know or family members.

What was lacking that made your son decide he had no hope for a better future in your country?

Actually, many things. A young boy wants and needs so many things that, unfortunately, we cannot give him because of poverty. Also, wages here in the community are low, not enough for anything. We understand that what we get from CI is just support; we cannot expect all. Aid is limited [and CI does] not have an obligation. What we get is of goodwill and a little support.

Most of the unaccompanied minors apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection come from El Salvador, Guatemala (pictured) and Honduras.

How much money did you have to pay for him to make the trip?

The trip cost Q60,000 (about US$8,000), and what my husband earns is just Q800 (US$107) per month as a laborer. The loan was authorized leaving land as guarantee. But with the money sent by my son, the loan is being paid — even paying more than what was charged. 

What do you think would have happened to your son had he been picked up by U.S. authorities at the border?

No doubt they would have returned him, but surely he would have tried again, because the fee to the coyote included two or three attempts.

Do you hope other members of your family will eventually join your son in the U.S.?

Not now. First we have to pay this loan.

Do you already have relatives in the U.S.? If so, are they in the U.S. legally? When did they arrive?

The husband of one of my daughters has lived in the U.S. for four years — but illegally. No immigration papers.

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Why did your son decide to leave Guatemala?

María: Lack of funds. He had gotten a job here in Chimaltenango, but the pay was minimal and not enough to pay for the different needs in the family. My husband left the family, and my son took seriously the role of the absent father. So he felt obliged to look for an opportunity abroad.

My son wants to support his siblings so they can continue studying. During the month he’s been in the U.S., we have already received a remittance. Half of the money went toward part of the debt assumed for the trip and the other half to buy clothing and food. 

“What we want is to get out of poverty, away from gangs and to be able to pay for the things necessary to live properly,” says CI mother María.

We heard from him a month after he left, and yes, he is fine. For me, it was a big relief to hear from my son again, after not having heard anything from him for a month.

When we talked, he told me all of his experiences during the trip. It was tough, and he was very afraid. He told me he was locked up for 14 days, hidden in a house with dozens of other people who were also traveling. The coyotes gave them a ration of water and a plate of beans and rice only once a day. I thank God that my child is well.

How many members are in your family?

We are a family of 6, my 5 children and I. I am in charge of them when my husband left the family several years ago.

How long had your son been thinking about making the journey?

A year ago, my son was given the option to leave, especially since the money he earned for our family was not enough. He was talking to a relative who has lived in the United States for over 15 years, and he offered to help when my son arrived.

He tried twice to enter the U.S. The first attempt was six months ago, but he was arrested by federal police in Mexico and returned. When my son returned from his first attempt, he was unrecognizable — very thin and emaciated. It wasn’t until the second attempt that he was able to reach the United States. He went with another group of people, including adults and children, guided by two coyotes.

What was lacking that made your son decide had no hope for a better future in your country?

The basic gifts [from CI] are helpful — clothing and footwear and school supplies. And they teach many programs to learn trades and to be leaders and to read. But what we want is to get out of poverty, away from gangs and to be able to pay for the things necessary to live properly.

CI teaches many nice things, but there are still no job offers here or the work is underpaid. What we need is money to pay the rent and pay for the daily food.

How much money did you have to pay for the trip?

We paid a lot of money. It was a loan, but now my son is working and he is paying the loan.

Do you hope other members of the family will eventually join your son in the U.S.?

For now, he was the only one interested. His younger siblings are studying.

Do you already have relatives in the U.S.?

Yes, and it was an advantage, because my son had a place to live. Without their support, he would not have had a chance to find a job, much less a place to live.

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What prompted your decision to leave Honduras?

Alma: The first reason is because of the rumors that they offer amnesty to refugees who look for asylum in the United States.

In other words, if I were able to cross into the USA, and immigration officials got me or if I turned myself into them, along with my children, and if I had  family members in the United States who could vouch for me, then I could opt for amnesty or asylum, whichever the case might be. What I understood was that they were going to give me a permit, and with that permit, I would [receive a] certain amount of time in the American courts to keep renewing my amnesty or asylum request.

Alma's fears for her family's safety prompted her decision to try to cross the border.

And the second reason is because of the threats and extortion we were subjected to. People started asking me for money and threatened to harm my children. I’m almost sure the threats came from the sector I lived in, because they knew everything about me and my children.

I’m not positive if they were gang members or if they were from another kind of group who commits that type of crime or if they came from somewhere else. But they knew us — me, my husband, my children and other members of my family.

I’m still afraid. We were forced to move from our community. I haven’t received another call from them, partly, I think, because I changed my phone number. At the time, I filed a report with the police, but as of today, we haven’t received any kind of response.

Because of this, my husband made the decision that I should go to the U.S. with my two children. We had already heard how to get amnesty or asylum there, and since my husband has a family member in the U.S. who already has all of her paperwork in order — she is an American citizen — we made the decision to make the journey.

I went by myself with my two boys. My husband couldn’t come with me because he couldn’t leave his mom by herself. Also, he had to resolve a few situations here in the country — legal things. The idea was that after he got all of his paperwork straightened out, he would come join us.

Alma greatly misses her home country of Honduras (pictured), but has found Guatemala to be accommodating.

Ever since I left Honduras, at every step of the way, the journey was hard — physically and emotionally. There is nothing like being in your own country. It’s so different; it’s not pleasant. It’s really tough being in another country, not knowing anyone, not trusting anyone, with no hope that someone will give you a hand — a helping hand.

But I have to be honest. In Guatemala, it’s not as bad. In truth, you can find people who are willing to give you a hand there. But once you get to Mexico, it’s totally different.

Editor's note: Alma originally lived in Honduras, but moved to Guatemala after she got detained in Mexico.

I made it to Monterrey, Mexico, with my kids. I was with the coyote, and supposedly the immigration people who were going to be there that day had been paid off. The problem was that there was a surprise checkpoint before we reached the immigration booth. It was at that checkpoint that they caught my children and me.

I remember that day. It was a Friday, and the day the vice president of the United States (Joe Biden) had met with the President of Guatemala, Otto Pérez.

In Mexico, things got ugly. They started opening a lot of checkpoints, and the truth is that there was no hope and no way out for anyone. Immigration officials are really tough. Not all of them; there are a few that are really kind-hearted, but there are some immigration officials who have no heart at all.

The first shelter they took us to was in the city of Veracruz. The worst memory I have of that shelter is that, one day, they came to fumigate, even though kids were there. They didn’t care.

After a few days, they put us on a bus and moved us to a prison, because you could definitely call that place a prison, located in Tapachula. Thank God they never separated me from my children. But the way they treated us there was ugly. It wasn’t nice at all.

Fortunately, I had some Mexican money, and that place had a kind of store where you could buy things — some churros, soda, cookies or instant soup — to give my children, because they didn’t come to offer us breakfast until 11 a.m., and they didn’t give us lunch until 3 p.m., and dinner, not until 9 p.m.

And the food was … You couldn’t really tell what it was, I just knew that it was blended black beans, because that’s what they said it was. But the rest of the food — or whatever you call it — really, I have no idea.

What I do remember is that they gave the children fruit, and that’s what my children ate — fruit. In my case, I just had cookies and juice.

I also thank God that my children never got sick there, but I did see some sick children who had diarrhea and vomiting. The immigration officials gave Alka Seltzer to a 1-year-old. I’m no doctor, but I know that you can’t give that kind of medicine to a child who is that young.

I was locked up with my children a total of 6 days.

How long had you been thinking about making the journey?

It took us three weeks to think about going and then make it a reality.

What was lacking that made you decide you had no hope for a better future in your own country?

I can’t say that we lacked anything. We were forced to make this decision because we’re faced with terrible crime problems in this country. We’re very afraid, because I start thinking about my children when they are older, and the [people who] want to force them into gangs and other groups.

How much money did you have to pay to make the trip?

My husband paid US$7,000 for the coyote to take us to the U.S. and hand us over to an immigration official so that we could ask for amnesty or asylum.

My husband is a mototaxi driver. He doesn’t earn much, and now he’s so far in debt, because he had to get a loan to get the money — a loan that he has to pay back now. And that means waking up really early and going to bed really late to make all of the money he can in order to pay the debts and keep maintaining his home.

Have you heard of other children who have safely arrived and found a place to live?

Yes, I know several friends of family members or even the friends themselves who live there now. For example, I have a girlfriend who was able to get amnesty, and she has to present herself every so often before the courts for her asylum request. She’s been there for 6 months, and she hasn’t had any kind of legal problem so far.

Did you hope other members of the family would eventually join you if you had made it safely into the U.S.?

If we had made it, my husband would have followed us after he resolved the issues I mentioned earlier.

Do you already have relatives in the U.S.?

Yes. A relative of my husband lives in the United States. She went there 30 years ago. She didn’t go legally, but now she has all of her papers in order. In fact, she is an American citizen. Unfortunately, we couldn’t ask to be admitted legally, because we aren’t her direct family members.

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Have you heard of specific instances of children or youth who have left to try and reach the U.S. border?

After having done work with the entire staff here in the community center, as well as with the volunteers from all of the sectors, we came to a total of 69 sponsored kids, although within the groups who have left, we have also discovered some mothers, even some volunteer mothers, who have gone to the United States. This data is from January 2013 to the middle of July 2014.

For many kids and families, CI community centers offer a place of dignity and hope, where kids can play, read, get medical and dental checkups and receive life-changing help.

What do CI staff tell families or teens who they hear are thinking about making the journey?

We have begun an awareness campaign in our community center. We have been present, for example, in weekly meetings with mothers in different neighborhoods. We explain the risks and show them the truths of the trip.

We know that from the moment they leave the country and begin to cross Guatemala and Mexico, the risks are rather large, especially for the most vulnerable population — children and adolescents.

Youth programs guide teens to a new life and teach the risks of crossing the border.

The most common risks include being kidnapped, robbed and raped, in addition to the treatment they receive when they are housed, often in confined spaces, because they contain a large number of people in extremely small spaces.

We also have had the opportunity to talk to some young people who have returned. We often tell their stories to others about how rough the journey was and how they went hungry on the way.

We explain to families that they cannot always trust the coyotes. We try to convince people who have sold their homes that their homes are patrimonies and that they shouldn’t put them in the hands of a coyote. If the families lose their homes, they’d run out of that heritage.

We understand that this situation is very difficult, and we have tried to talk to them and be able to explain what the risks are, both on the road and in their countries.

We have to fight issues like the hope that the coyote sells to families. For example, they sell travel in “packs,” which means if the first attempt to reach the U.S. fails, you are entitled to a second and even a third chance.

It’s like a guarantee, and that creates an illusion in people who think, well, if I do not succeed at first, I have two more opportunities.

Other lies coyotes tell include:

• Kids are safe and it will be easy to find work in the U.S.
• With a young child on hand, mothers will achieve a legal status in that nation.

This is where we try to guide our families with videos and informational materials that show the suffering migrant's experience on the way.

Do you think it's hard to convince a family not to make a trip if they’ve already discussed it with a coyote?

That has changed over time. A few months back, it was impossible to convince a family to not make the trip. But now they are seeing so many deportations, they have realized the many risks are not worth it.