1 man, 2 homes
Tuesday, February 28th, 2006
By Chris Fitzsimon
For Luis and other illegal immigrants here, the longing to revisit their homelands means another dangerous crossing into the U.S.
DÁNICA COTO
dcoto@charlotteobserver.com
Luis wasn’t sure he wanted to risk leaving his wife and children in North Carolina to visit his parents in Mexico.
He’d have to cross again into the U.S. illegally. He could get arrested. Shot by robbers. Abandoned by the coyote guiding him.
He was most afraid of not seeing his family again, but he didn’t tell them. Luis didn’t want them to worry. But his wife and four children knew the dangers.
They’ve all crossed illegally, one after another, since he came to North Carolina 10 years ago, lured by stories of plentiful jobs and higher pay.
Luis, 45, was a fisherman in Mexico, making $1 for every kilo he caught. On a good day, he says, he’d make $10.
Now, he lives with his wife and two youngest children in a trailer park about 25 miles outside Charlotte. He’s in construction; his wife works in a factory. His older children have married and moved to other parts of North Carolina.
Luis is a quiet man with a deep faith. He speaks in short sentences unless he’s talking about God and the Virgin Mary and how they’ve influenced his life.
He says he’s never been in trouble; a search of N.C. criminal records appears to support that. (more…)
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