Medical debt leads a father to join his brothers in the U.S.
In 2011, Emiliano’s third child and first daughter was born at 28 weeks. She was in the neonatal intensive care unit for several months. Mexican national health insurance paid only for basic expenses. Emiliano had to bring money each day for the incubator, for medicine, for special formula, and for preemie diapers. He borrowed from everyone that he knew. By the time his daughter was able to come home he was MXN 200,000 ($16,500 USD) in debt. Emiliano was working a collection of odd jobs in farming and construction. If he could string five days of work together, he would make MXN 800 ($67 USD), but on most weeks he earned less than this. His debt was an impossible sum to repay if he remained in Mexico.
One of Emiliano’s older brothers, Daniel was already living in the U.S., and his oldest brother Leonardo had recently returned to Mexico from the U.S. Leonardo wanted to stay with his family in Mexico. Leonardo’s family had become accustomed to the higher standard of living enabled by his remittances, and he could not earn enough in Mexico to meet their changed expectations. For that reason, and because he did not want his younger brother to make the dangerous crossing alone, he decided to return to the United States with Emiliano.
Emiliano and Leonardo found a coyote, who had been recommended by reliable people. This smuggler was from their community. They knew his extended family, and he only charged his clients after they had successfully crossed the border. Emiliano mentioned that some smugglers ask for half or all the money upfront. These are the smugglers that you want to avoid. Arrangements were made, and Daniel and Leonardo’s former employer sent them the money that they would need to travel to the border. Emiliano and Leonardo boarded a bus that had been chartered by three or four coyotes working cooperatively. Each coyote had their own group of migrants. As the bus neared the border it was stopped three separate times, twice by the Mexican police and once by the Mexican army. The smugglers negotiated the amount of the bribe, collected the money from their individual clients and paid the bribe. The cost of the bribes increased as they got closer to the border from MXN 200 ($17 USD) to MXN 500 ($42 USD), and finally to MXN 1,000 ($83 USD) per person.
Emiliano was traveling with MXN 10,000 ($833 USD). He figured he would pay MXN 3,000 ($250 USD) for the bus, MXN 1,000 ($83 USD) for food along the journey and MXN 1,000 ($83 USD) in bribes. He went over budget on bribes. Once the bus arrived in Sasabe, Sanora they were taken in a small truck to a narco controlled ranch where they paid MXN 5,000 ($417 USD) for protection. They expected to be there just a few days but were forced to stay for over a month.
According to Emiliano each sector of the Mexican border is controlled by different armed gangs. Coyotes pay these gangs to allow their clients to stay close to the border until they think it is a good time to cross. Because of heavier than expected U.S. Border Patrol activity this section of the border was deemed not safe. One coyote became impatient and took his group to another location to cross without paying the narco gang that controlled that section of the border their fee. To send a message the insulted gang murdered 29 of the 30 migrants leaving only one client and the coyote to tell the tale.
After the massacre hundreds of Mexican police and soldiers along with dozens of U.S. Border Patrol Agents descended on the area. This section of the border was effectively closed. Emiliano and Leonardo simply had to wait. Their brother in the U.S. sent more money for food while they sat out the long delay.
Finally, it was time for them to make the crossing. They took a truck to the area of the border that they were going to cross. They then crossed a wire fence and began to walk. They walked for three nights and rested during the day. Twice the U.S. Border Patrol came very close to them, but they were able to successfully stay hidden. Emiliano and Leonardo carried three gallons of water each. Many others in their group only brought small bottles of water which they quickly consumed. The group started with 42 migrants, but at the end of three days of walking only nineteen remained. The others had become exhausted and dropped out. Emiliano believed that most were able to follow the coyote’s advice and signal the U.S. Border Patrol after the main group had passed. However, along the trail he saw abandoned clothing and backpacks along with human skulls, and skeletal hands and feet left by previous groups of migrants, so it was clear that the U.S. Border Patrol does not find everyone.
Finally, Emiliano and Leonardo reached a main highway, and they were picked up by an associate of the coyote and taken to Tucson. There, they waited in a trailer with other migrants until $8,000 ($4,000 per brother) was wired to pay the coyote, and they were released.
Emiliano has been in New York for the past ten years and has never had any trouble finding work. He now works 60 hours a week in a restaurant as a cook and earns $900 a week in cash. He pays no taxes but is considering filing using Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), so he can create a record that he has lived and worked in the United States in case there is ever an amnesty.
He has long since repaid his MXN 200,000 debt and all the money his brothers paid for him to come to the United States. He saves $200 a week in a tanda. Every eighteen weeks he receives at payout of $3,600. He has used these lump sums to buy three building lots and to build a house on one of these lots. He sends money to the two families he supports: his son from a previous relationship, and his son and daughter from the relationship he was in when he left Mexico. This son and daughter live in the house that he built. He left Mexico to pay the debt incurred caring for his premature daughter, but he has not seen her or his other children for over ten years, and if he remains in the U.S., he has no realistic hope of seeing them again.