Immigrants in Arriaga

We slept in until 7am in Acayucan and headed out. We thought it might be possible to get out of Mexico that day, but were just going to see how the day went. We read that if we got to the border town in the afternoon, to not cross and stay until the next day. We got as far as Arriaga and couldn´t go any more that day. It was around 5pm and we were still 3 or 4 hours to the border of Guatemala. We passed a hotel on the main road and went into the small town. As we drove around, we started feeling very sad. Eduardo was reminded of his journey to the US in 2002 by seeing all the immigrants that had traveled up through Central America and were headed to the U.S. via Mexico. There were dozens and dozens of people waiting by the railroad tracks. They knew when the train would start going and they would jump on with hopes of not getting caught. We watched all waiting and felt very sad. I saw Eduardo cry this day. It was only 1 of 2 times I had seen him cry at this point. I cried too and our hearts grew heavy.

I know there are so many people that judge illegal immigrants, but if you had only seen the things I have seen and heard the stories I have from loved ones, you may feel differently. It´s not as though these people just decide it would be cool to live in the United States. They do it to feed their families and find a better way of life. They have nothing and have even less to lose. They risk their lives trying to make the journey North and it´s a long hard struggle. It makes me cry even now just thinking about it. This part of the trip made me so grateful that we are going through this Immigration Process. My husband is the kindest, most giving, hard working, selfless person I know and I am happy to be helping him to be able to continue the life he has built for himself all these years. He has sacrificed being able to be with his family just to be able to provide for them and I know he will never give up trying to better himself and his life.