By José Dominguez, June 25, 2020 — When I was working at Wellside Packer Electric in Ciudad Chihuahua in 1995, I was very pleased to find Marco. He was a young manager who used to be my student when I was working as a teacher in the educational system. I guess at this time he was 42 years old and he was a robust and strong guy because he loved to play all kinds of sports.
We spoke about several topics but one day he told me, “Mr. Dominguez, we as managers have the benefit of using a brand-new car of the company. But beware, don’t risk that privilege as I was going to.” “What happened to you, Marco?” I said. “Well, I had to attend a departmental meeting at El Paso, Texas, and decided to cross the border by the bridge. As usual, there was a regular car line before me, and the advance was real slow. It was a beautiful day of spring, so I kept the windows open. Suddenly a very well dressed and groomed young man approached me in a very polite way and asked me for a ride to El Paso, Texas. I did not answer immediately but the petition was so gentle, and the guy looked so decent that I accepted. That’s how he got into my car. After a few minutes later we were in front of an immigration officer who asked for our papers. I explained to him that I worked for General Motors and was on my way to a work session at El Paso. The officer shook his head affirmatively and returned my visa. Then asked my passenger for his documents and he responded in very poor English that he was American.”
Let me explain a little bit. Legally, American citizens in those times were not required to present documents to prove the citizenship. So many illegal aliens that spoke very good English took advantage of that and they in many cases cheated the officers. But in this case, it wasn’t so.
“Immediately, the officer reacted and continued asking things relative to his date of birth and he was not able to respond because actually, he didn’t know English. After the first answer, he wrote on a yellow paper a cue number and put it in the windshield, and told us, ‘Park the car in that space.’ At that moment I realized that my passenger was an illegal alien, and I was in a big mess. Another officer was waiting to escort us a few yards until we arrived at a tunnel entrance and explained it. ‘Go down the stairs and walk straight to the checkpoint, there are some guards waiting for you.’ So, we started to walk, and I was so mad about everything. But after walking a few yards in the round hall that connects to the entrance, I lost my temper. I turned to the guy and without saying a single word, I began to strike his face with my fist. He was asking for clemency, but in a few seconds, I hit him very thoroughly. It only took me 15 seconds. But after that, I was surrounded by 6 or 7 security authorities that controlled me.
After I had explained to the authorities how I was convinced by that guy to give him a ride and how stupidly I had accepted, they explained to me that the federal law defines as a crime the transportation of an illegal alien and that the crime has a minimum penalty of ten years jail. But in this case, it was worse because of the intent to cheat an immigration officer. Suddenly, all my world, my family, my company’s car, everything was in jeopardy for a moment of stupid kindness. I explained this and asked for conciliation until the person in charge told me everything is of issue, ‘So in theory, you are going to jail. But there is only one thing in your favor.’ ‘What?’ I questioned. He told me, ‘You gave a very good lesson to that son of a bitch…I don’t want to see you again. Go to your house.’”
My friend, talking to me said: “Beware, teacher. If you want to be a kind person, be sure that is to the correct person at the correct moment.”