By José Dominguez, February 13, 2020 — Some years ago, I found Pedro in a Mexican shopping center at Ciudad Juarez CHIH. Pedro was my son Poncho’s closest friend and I was very happy to see him again.
“Hi Pedro, how are you?” [I asked].
“I’m fine, doing okay,” he answered.
“When are you going to visit my son Poncho in Philadelphia?”
“Well, it’s not possible,” he replied.
“But why, what is the reason?”
“Well, I don’t have a visa anymore I was deported from the USA six months ago.”
“[You were] accused of what?” I asked.
“For illegal entrance, I was deported as an illegal alien.”
“Tell me what happened,” [I said].
Well, I have to explain to the reader that the Rio Bravo is the US/Mexico [border] and it applies to El Paso, TX at the West towards Sunland Park or Las Cruces, NM. The [borders] in those years were not so obvious as today’s are. Today there’s a wall, and in those days the limits were only some cement cylinders that we called “mojoneras.”
Let’s continue with Pedro, who began explaining, “All Sundays I took my bike and [went] to the desert to the North to try to follow the US boundary. Some 6 months ago, I was enjoying life in the desert exercising with my bike. Suddenly from some bushes, a Mexican American Immigration Officer from the border patrol (those that we call Migras) appeared and stopped me.
“Where are you going, buddy?” [The officer asked me].
“Just doing exercises, officer.”
“No, no, what you are doing is an illicit act. You are crossing the US limits.”
“But I have a visa.”
“Perhaps, but you can use it only in the legal entrances, not in here.”
“But Officer, consider my lack of intention of wrongdoing.”
“I don’t care,” [the officer] said. “You did it and you will face the consequences.”
Pedro said to me, “Oh, I was so depressed that I only noticed that the officer took his telephone and started to talk, he turned his back to me and some seconds later he continued with his dialogue. I tried to insist that he stop.”
“No more B.S. You are arrested, your papers are confiscated, and you will be submitted to formal deportation,” the officer stated.
“Oh My God,” I told him. “But why?”
“Do you really want to know?” He said.
“Yes!!!!” [I responded].
“I’m going to kick you from the USA because you are stupid,” [said the officer].
“How come, why do you insult me?”
“Let me tell you, I used my phone. I turned my face away from you and you did not run. You [lost] your chance, ¡Vamos!”
“And I lost my visa so next time I know that running can be a good option,” said Pedro.cu