The Journey continues...

Putting my family in a better place to live influenced my decision to migrate, as well as corruption within Mexico’s government. Other things that were easy to adapt to in the U.S. were all the variety of things available to us as a family.

Possessing marijuana, cocaine and even heroin will no longer be a crime in Mexico if the drugs are carried in small amounts for personal use, under legislation passed by the Mexican Congress. I guess things haven't changed in good ol' Mexico.

In Mexico, we ate beans and tortillas every day. We only ate meat once a week if we were lucky. In the United States, there were more food, clothing, and drinks to pick from. I could actually eat meat everyday and it would be ready in less than five minutes. With one paycheck, I could provide the food and clothing my family needed to survive. We also had the opportunity to watch movies, take my family out to the park, and to do other things we couldn’t afford to do in Mexico. The longer we were here, the easier it became to understand English. When I first arrived, I would just laugh when the supervisors would talk to me because I had no idea what they were saying. I never really experienced racism when I worked in California. My bosses loved it when we talked to them in Spanish, and it was easy to adapt because I worked with lots of Spanish speaking immigrants. Even when I did get caught and deported, I just slept for a night in Tijuana and smuggled myself back in the next day. I couldn’t go back to Mexico, especially since my family was already in California.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) was implemented by Congress due to the large and growing amounts of illegal alien population in the United States. IRCA included a massive amnesty program for two main categories of illegal aliens:

1) those who could show that they had resided illegally in the U.S. continuously since at least January 1, 1985; and

2) those who had worked as agricultural workers for at least 90 days between May 1, 1985 and May 1, 1986.

In 1986, the U.S. government came out with an amnesty agreement of some sort. We were told that since we had spent at least five years time in the United States, we could take tests to see if we could become legal aliens. I went to a local elementary school and received my green card. Becoming a U.S. citizen, as well as buying a house, car, and putting my kids in school have been my biggest accomplishments since living here in the United States. The worst part has been the times when I was unemployed and could not provide for my family. I don’t plan on returning to Mexico because the wages are low and the inflation is high. It’s a no win situation there. My dreams of the future include raising my U.S. born grandkids and living long enough to watch them become part of a great nation that has, and will always provide for immigrant people.

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