THE BRUTAL JOURNEY

MAE STAFF WRITER, DENISE HERNANDEZFUERTE, 09/18/24

Around 13% of the United States population is comprised of immigrants. Of those immigrants, around 23% are from Mexico. The United States offers the opportunity  for work and the chance of a better life but the journey can be long and brutal. 

My mother had an eventful journey when immigrating to the U.S with my father and my uncle. Before leaving for the United States she lived in Patzcuaro, Michoacan with 5 younger siblings. She lived with my grandparents until the age of 22, when she married my father. He had an uncle who lived in San Diego and was lonely; being separated from family was hard for him. He suggested they both should come to the United States and they agreed. They thought mayeb it would be a good opportunity to see the world outside of Mexico.

Their journey started on August 28, 1998. My uncle informed them they would have to go through the desert. They arrived at a house in Tijuanna where thye met the people that were going to help them cross the border. They waited in the house for around a week for a group of around 15 people to show; others looking to cross the border. They were taken to a secondary place in Mexico where they got on a bus to Tecate. 

My father remembers waiting around for over an hour for the bus to arrive. He needed to use the bathroom and told my mom that he was going to go real quick and come back. The moment he left to use the bathroom the bus arrived. The man that was going to help them cross came up to my mother and uncle and told them they needed to get on the bus. 

My mother told the man that my father left to use the bathroom and that she wasn’t leaving without him. The man got angry at my mother but she persisted, telling him that she wasn’t leaving without her husband, to make the bus driver wait a few minutes. The man shouted at her "no!" He argued that if they weren't going to get on the bus, they would be left, all alone, and that he wouldn’t be responsible for them. They were left.

Disheartened and disappointed, they returned to the house in Tijuana to hope for another opportunity. After some time a really nice man said that he would help them cross but without a group, just the three of them. Both my parents and my uncle agreed and immediately set off. By the second day the realized exactly how dangerous this was going to be. While they hid, helicopters flew overhead and surrounded them. Their guide radioed to find out what was happening. 

They were informed to hold, to not advance any further. Apparently the group they were with originally with, whose tracks they were following in, had been attacked. "they were robbed of all their money, they were injured, the women were raped, they were left stranded in the desert." Out of desperation, a small group had climbed a mountain where there was a radio antenna. "They intentionally called the immigration police so they could get caught."

When the bus had left them in Tijuana they thought it was bad luck. When they arrived and heard of everything that had happened, they thought it was a sign that God did not want them to suffer, that their separation from the group was divine intervention.

They lasted 3 days in a cave sleeping, waiting for it all to pass. Food and water was low, sand was quickly depleted because of their delay. When they finally moved on they did so drinking barely any water and eating only one meal a day.  By the second day, they had officially run out of water. My father remembers, "we just had to continue without water." Luckily, after a few more hours of hiking they hear the sound of running water and find a safe source. They drank as much as they could and peeled off the rotten parts of the remaining bread they had and prepared to move on.

Another day of navigating the desert and they reached the US. Their guide radioed for someone to pick them up. They were taken to another house, this one inside the US. They called for my uncle, the one who gave them the idea in the first place, to come pick them up. He arrived quickly, paid their guides and brought them all home. 

It took a while for my father to find a job but he did. He had to because my mother found out she was 2 months pregnant with my older sister. Hearing my parent tell me about this made me realize how much they have both sacrificed for me and my siblings. It made me realize how strong they are for surviving such an awful and brutal journey. It has definitely made me appreciate them a lot more.