Deported Migrants
Monday, 21 September 2009 19:29
On Sunday, Sept. 6, I went looking for deported migrants who wanted to speak to me about their journey across the border and back. At first, they were hesitant, but after lingering a few hours, the migrants started to approach me with their stories.
It was a difficult assignment because when they speak to you about their lives they tell you horrifying experiences. When they speak to you they look you in the eye. That was one of the most difficult parts of the interviews.
How do you react to the horrifying stories?
Everardo Mendez Jimenez, 28, had traveled all the way from Guatemala and as of that Sunday it had been a month since he left his home country. He left with his two younger sister, ages 14 and 15, but sent them back when they arrived in Oaxaca, México. He told me they had been raped twice by the Mara Salvatrucha, a huge gang that originated in El Salvador and now has spread to different parts of Central America.
“Traveling through México up north is the most difficult part of my journey,” Jimenez said.
He is one of many migrants I interviewed who trusted me to pass on his experience.
Written by Roxana Vásquez
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