Borderlinks

Nogales Sonora, a city where poverty reigns everywhere you look.

Going to Nogales was different for me this time, sure I had gone many times before and yes I was aware

 that there was a crisis of poverty going on there but this time it was

different. The reason it was different was because I was not just passing by, I

 was going there to talk to people and to understand why they live the way

 they do and why some are happy just the way they are. Talking to

 KikoTrujillo, (Director of Borderlinks in Mexico) made me realize something very important when he

 answered to me, “ It’s not the United States problem to solve our

 problem’s, rather I would like to see Mexico have our own production

 and the U.S Dollars flow into our economy”.  As I reflected on what he

 said, I realized he was right.

        Going to talk to the families also made me realize something different and this was that not

 everybody in Mexico hates the fact that they are poor. The lady

 that we had lunch with told us that she would never trade the

 lifestyle that she has there to go and live to the U.S. She mentioned

 that life in the U.S goes by too fast and that there is hardly anytime

 to be with your family because you have to work to pay your bills

 and you’re just working to get by. She said that even though she

 suffered cold nights because her roof had not yet been finished due to

 lack of money, she was happy and even though she didn’t always have

 the best to eat she was satisfied with what she had. She also mentioned

 that she has lived in the U.S before and that the pay is good (compared to Mexico) when we asked her why do people risk their lives to go to the U.S, and she answered “because there is no work

 here”, and this brought me to realization that some people have no choice and therefore people risk

 their lives.  People don’t want to leave their loved ones behind, they don’t want to risk their lives,

 they don’t want to suffer, so they have no choice.

        This then made me think about the border patrol and what we had talk

ed about earlier that same morning, and how he mentioned that hey were there

to protect and I cannot argue with that, but what I can argue is the fact that it  

seems as if they don’t understand what makes people want to cross over when

 they talk about drug smugglers and thieves. What are they trying to protect, a 

 wealthy nation that depends on cheap labor from immigrants? Why does this not

 make any sense? In a report done by Border Action Network it recounts a story,

“In November 1995, a 12-year old girl was play–camping with a friend in a  vacant lot behind her

 home in Pirtleville. As she slept curled up in a ball in their tent, she awoke suddenly to a sharp pain

 invading her knee. She had been shot. A bullet went trough her knee and missed her head by five

 inches on its exit from her body”. Stories like these make one think about border Patrol taking things

 to far and being accused of using excessive force. As the officer spoke about his job, it made it seem

 as if they were only doing their job, it is amazing to me that they think that their opinions do not

 matter,  as if they had no morals or values. So then many questions came to me that maybe I will

 never have an answer to, like how are laws the standard by what we live in if our morals and values

 do not count, then what makes this nation so great?