Interview With an Illegal
By Angelo DiPasquale
Read below to understand what illegal immigrants from Mexico must go through and how they live.
What you read might astound you.
Angelo: When did you decide to come to the US?
Juan: I came when I had the money to come. I had to pay for a fake license like $225 American money
Angelo: Did you always know that you were coming to the US?
Juan: Yes, when I was little my grandmother told me that the only way for me to support my family and be a man is to go to the US and make money. My whole life I knew that one day I would be here.
Angelo: Is the US what you thought it would be?
Juan: No, it is nice but not what people tell you. At first I thought that I would make good money and eventually make enough to send the rest of my family over but Mexicans cannot get a good job; just hard working jobs that the white man does not want. I have to work two jobs and hard jobs just to make enough.
Angelo: What do you do for a living?
Juan: I work in a restaurant behind the grill and I work in landscaping. I work landscaping in the morning then I go to the restaurant at night. I work 6 days a week.
Angelo: Do you have a family?
Juan: Yes, but they are still in Mexico. I have two little girls and my wife.
Angelo: Do you plan on going back to Mexico?
Juan: Only to visit. I love Mexico it is my home and I will never forget that but I mad a life here. I am trying to bring my family over. I know someone who said they can help me do that. I pay them $400 and they bring my girls over. I pay another $400 and they bring my wife. I cannot put a money number on my family. Whatever it takes for them to get here I will do it.
Angelo: Where did you meet him?
Juan: [Laughing] I cannot say. I tell you after my family gets here.
Angelo: If you had to do the move all over what would you change?
Juan: I would have left earlier. If I would have left earlier, my family would be here now. I would have made money sooner and I would be able to pay to get them here.
Angelo: Is it easy to get into the US?
Juan: Not easy but not hard. I know lots of people who are like me. I know lots of people who brought their whole families over. The US lets us in because they need workers like me. They need people to do the jobs that white people don’t want to do. I don’t care, its better than starving, you know.
Angelo: Are you scared about being sent back.
Juan: Yes, but not too scared. I know how to get back if I had to. I have friends that I talked to about if ever one of us got caught the others would help bring them back. We are not going to leave for a long time. A friend of a friend got sent back. He ended up coming back within a few weeks. His job did not fire him and he did not lose his apartment.