Ramon (named changed) was born in Puebla, Mexico. He studied until he was 20, but then he couldn’t pay the university fees so he started working in a supermarket. When he was 25 years old he decided to come to this country. He knew he would have more job opportunities here. Also there was a lot of violence in Mexico . One of his cousins was assaulted with a gun and robbed and that’s a common problem in Mexico . He talked a lot of times with his family about migrating and his family was against it because they thought it was dangerous trying to enter the United States illegally. He didn’t have a way to get papers, so finally his family decided to support him.
Ramon knew some friends in the US and he thought that would make it easier to leave Mexico. For him the hardest thing about migrating was leaving his family and the country where he grew up. He traveled for 4 days. Ramon had to travel from Puebla City to Mexico City and then take a flight to Tijuana where he met two childhood friends who also planned to enter the US.
They hired two people who would take them to the border and they would try to cross a big river. When the people they hired took them to the river they saw that crossing was going to be hard and dangerous. They tried and tried to think of a way to cross. but they couldn’t figure out how. Fernando was desperate so he decided cross the river by himself swimming or walking. Everything was going well but a strong current of water dragged him and he was close to drowning. His friends threw him a rope to try to save him but it wasn’t enough. Fortunately the strong current of water dragged him to a tree on the other side of the river. Fernando held on the tree and climbed out of the river. When he managed to get out of the river he helped his friends to cross by tying a rope to the tree.
Next they walked for ten hours and they arrived in San Diego CA. When they arrived in the country they hoped find a place to live and try to get a job. His first job was in a pizza shop where he worked for one year. He has been living in this country for 20 years. Now he has a green card and he works as a cook in a hotel . He thinks that coming to this country was one of the best decisions in his life because he was able to obtain better economic stability and help his family.
This story was written by a relative of Ramon and a student in the SF Bay Area.