A profile of Maria's family

A profile of Maria's family.

MARIA

Maria (not her real name) is 20 years old. She was born in Mexico City. She crossed into the United States when she was 15 and now lives with her family in the basement of a house in a Twin Cities suburb. (The house is owned by the people who live upstairs.) Since arriving here, Maria has learned English and in the summer of 2005, she graduated from high school.

This past academic year, Maria was a part-time student at a community college in the Twin Cities. She would like to major in political science and go to law school.

For now, she's applying to work at a fast food restaurant (where her father and brother work) and hoping to save enough money to be able to re-enroll at least part time in the community college in the fall. Maria sees her future here in the United States, not Mexico.

MARIA'S FATHER

Maria's father is 45. He was born in Mexico City, and lived there his entire life until coming to the United States. He has eight brothers and sisters, one of whom lives in the United States, the rest in Mexico City.

He has a sixth grade education. His first job was helping his father sell newspapers, and then he worked 14 years as a city bus driver. He met Maria's mother on the bus -- she was a regular passenger. They have been married for 26 years.

The bus company went bankrupt in 1993, putting Maria's father out of work for three years. They sold their house and abandoned their middle class lifestyle. Eventually he found work doing road construction for $3.30 a day. The family was barely surviving.

Maria's father left for the United States on February 25, 1999, and ended up in Nashville. He worked construction there, but the work was irregular. A friend in the Twin Cities encouraged him to come here, saying there was more work at higher wages. He arrived in St. Paul in August 1999. He got work at a fast food restaurant where he works to this day for $9 per hour.

MARIA'S MOTHER

Maria's mother is 53. She was born in Veracruz State on the eastern coast of Mexico. Her father owned a farm, raising tobacco, sugar, oranges and corn. She has five siblings.

She received an eighth grade education in Mexico City, where she was sent to live with her aunt. When she met Maria's father she was doing clerical work in an office. She has not been employed in the United States and speaks almost no English, though she has just started taking classes.

MARIA'S OLDEST BROTHER

Maria's oldest brother is 23. At the age of 17, he crossed alone at Agua Prieta into the United States, to join his father in St. Paul. When he first came to the Twin Cities he worked temporary jobs, such as trash collection and factory work, for about $8 an hour. He has an eighth grade education, and was working too many hours to go to school once he arrived in St. Paul. Now he works at a fast food restaurant with his father.

MARIA'S SECOND BROTHER

Maria's second brother is 22, and crossed the border when he was 16, also alone and also at Agua Prieta. He, too, has an eighth grade education and has not attended school here because of his work schedule.

He started working at the fast food restaurant with his father and other brother, and was offered a manager's position, until it was discovered that he was without legal documents.

He was offered his old job back, but, frustrated, he went to work in a more formal restaurant kitchen as a cook, a job he enjoys. He earns $9 per hour -- a far cry from the $1.50 a day he made working in a bakery in Mexico City.

HOW THEY CAME TO THE U.S.

Maria and her family lived about two hours north of the center of Mexico City, in a place called San Andres.

Maria's father left first in February 1999. He took a bus from Mexico City to Monterrey, Mexico. And then another bus to somewhere in the northeast Mexican state of Coahuila, which borders Texas. He walked across the desert and swam across the Rio Grande, and then hopped a cargo train to San Antonio and a bus to Nashville. In August 1999, he took a bus from Nashville to St Paul.

One of Maria's brothers joined his father in St. Paul in February 2000, crossing the border in Agua Prieta, Mexico, which is across from Douglas, Arizona. Her oldest brother did the same thing, and arrived in St. Paul in July 2000.

In December 2000, Maria's father went back to Mexico City to get her and her mother. They tried to cross at Agua Prieta in March 2001, walking through the desert. Her mother couldn't keep up, and their "coyote" abandoned the three of them. Border Patrol agents found them and sent them back to Agua Prieta.

A few days later, Maria's mother crossed alone at the Agua Prieta/Douglas border crossing, using false identification. A bus took her to Phoenix, where she waited for Maria. Maria crossed a week later, also using false identification, and joined her mother in Phoenix.

One week after that, her father crossed on foot, in a group with a coyote, eventually taking a truck to Phoenix. Maria's uncle, who lives in Los Angeles, picked them up and took them to LA, where they stayed for one week. In May 2001, they flew to the Twin Cities to rejoin her brothers.

In July 2004 Maria's mother returned to Mexico to visit her ailing mother in Veracruz State. A coyote drove her from St. Paul across at Douglas, Arizona into Agua Prieta. While in Mexico, she also went to their old house in San Andres and retrieved photos.

She didn't return to St. Paul until August 2005. It took that long to raise the money to get back --- it cost about $3,700 each way. She crossed again at Agua Prieta, using false documents. She was driven to St. Paul in an arrangement with a coyote.

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