Editor’s note: The interviewee and his family will be left anonymous for their safety.
“These are our neighbors. We’re supposed to be good to our neighbors. One day, all our neighbors might have to need each other,” he said.
This is what my dear family-friend told his wife, while she sat convinced their neighbor would take advantage of his labor.
He holds a sincere heart and desperate dream that is constantly met with “If it was so important to you, then why didn’t you come here legally?”
The truth is, he did. Coming to America with a temporary work permit and an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, he routinely renewed his permit and paid taxes while gaining further documentation until receiving an appointment for a visa, leading to citizenship.
In 2011, shortly after marrying his wife and welcoming her three kids, his dad in Mexico caught pneumonia. Knowing it would be his last chance to see his father and help his mother prepare the funeral, he left for Mexico in a hurry.
After three months of grieving with his family and preparing paperwork following his father’s passing, he was stopped at the border on his way home. He did not know to ask permission before leaving the U.S., or that his work permit expired while in Mexico.
Due to his work-permit no longer on file, border patrol accused and arrested him of having a “fake passport.” He was held in a Texas jail for 11 months. His wife fought the case with a lawyer, who sent his paperwork to the wrong division. Because of this, upon release he was transported back to Mexico.
“They completely stopped all of our paperwork, everything, everything dropped, everything we paid for,” his wife said. “They were not going to let him come back for 10 years, or me even to apply for him to come back for 10 years.”
After almost a year away from his wife and children, it was then that he decided he would do anything to be home and provide for them again. It was then that he found a way home, without approval or proper documentation.
Once back in the United States, they immediately hired a new lawyer and paid $15,000 for a pardon signed by a judge that would allow him to continue living in the states with a work-permit.
For nearly thirty years he has once again routinely renewed his permit and paid taxes until receiving an appointment for a visa. About three years ago he was approved for a social security card, allowing him to receive a driver’s license and start his own concrete company.
For thirty years he and his wife have raised their son, who requires 24-hour care.
“He’s incontinent; he’s nonverbal. He probably has the IQ, honestly, of probably a one-year-old, like he doesn’t know when water would be hot,” his wife said. “He can just never be left alone. We have cameras in his room because of the seizures; he can have up to 12 seizures a day.”
For thirty years he has kissed his wife on the forehead and covered her with blankets before leaving for work. He brings home flowers and groceries every Sunday.
A month ago, after decades of waiting, he was finally scheduled for a visa appointment. He was accompanied by his lawyer, but for the first time was told his wife could not go in with him. She spent the next hour waiting in the car repeating to her daughter, “something is wrong,” “something is not right,” “I don’t feel good about this.”
Despite decades of taxes paid, home and business ownership and a disabled child, he was not accepted. He was treated like an idiot and was told “there were new laws.”
“[He] said, ‘I was so scared they were going to come call ICE and tell them to come and get me right now,’” his wife reported.
He was immediately denied, but his lawyer spoke up. The officer said he “needed to go over stuff” and would follow up with a decision in two weeks. The family has yet to hear anything.
His wife fears returning to rural Fresnillo, Mexico, with her husband would leave their son without access to the medications and doctors he needs. They worry where their income would come from, stating that it is extremely difficult to find work in Mexico once you are older than 50.
“I need a sofa and I’m not purchasing it, because I just don’t know what’s gonna happen. Like, we’re living in limbo. Birthdays are coming up — it’s just so hard to plan anything, because I just don’t know what our future is going to be,” she said.
His wife shared what she would say to the administration, or the interviewer that decides her family’s fate, if they were to read this article.
“I would tell them to look at all the good that [he] has done, all the money that he’s paid to this country. I would tell them look at the good, like he has a family that he’s taking care of, that he’s worried about,” she said. “That he’s not trying to steal anything from America, that he came here with a dream, and that’s what he’s doing. He’s never caused a problem here. He’s a good man.”
She recalls the stories her husband has told her about his childhood, where his family could not afford to send him to school after sixth grade.
“He said, ‘I had to learn how to drive a work truck, and I had to learn how to work and build. So, I knew that one day I’d come to America, and I would buy my mom a house. And she would not suffer, and my dad would not suffer, and my mom would have everything she needed; and she’d have a home, she’d have water, she’d have her medicines and she wouldn’t have to work as hard as she does,’” she said.
She shared that she doesn’t think her husband’s experience is too different from others who immigrate to the United States.
“I don’t really think that’s part of their dream, like getting a spouse here and living here and having, you know, everything they can here. I think they come here basically to take care of their families,” she said. “And I think they do come here to get to be able to become a citizen and bring their families here.”
But again, the world asks, “if it was so important to you, then why didn’t you come here legally?”
And I ask, in return, do papers define what an American is supposed to be?
If he doesn’t deserve to be here, who does? How much does it cost to earn the American dream? Because I assure you, he’s paid for it.
The answer is luck, I suppose. To be born in the right place at the right time.
