TRIPS OF TERROR
Reuniting a family in America
“Crossings: Untold Stories of Undocumented Migrants” — Chapter 10
“My schooling came to an
abrupt halt at the end of sixth
grade,” says Joanna from Guatemala.
“My father was very
strict, and I didn’t see any
point in arguing. He said I had
received enough schooling
and couldn’t see any need for
me to continue. It was time for
me to learn a skill and contribute
to the family’s income.”
Jonna was the youngest
girl of eleven children, so she’d
seen this process play out with
her older siblings: Once they
were able to work, they did.
“I stayed back from school
and learned how to sew,” she
remembers. “This was an obvious
choice because a lot of
the women in my family could
teach me this skill. I found it
relaxing and therapeutic to sit
and make something.”
One day, after she took her
sewing skills to a local shop,
Joanna met a handsome,
young man called Kelman.
“He had the most amazing
smile, and I felt my heart fl utter
when our eyes made contact.
He asked for my phone
number, and for the next few
days I caught my breath every
time the phone would ring,
hoping it would be Kelmam.”
The pair quickly fell in
love, and only a year later,
they welcomed a baby boy.
A short while after that,
they duo got married —
though, that’s when Kelman’s
newfound responsibilities as a
husband took him away from
Joanna.
“I’m sorry, but to properly
provide for you and our son I
need to leave! It’s time for me
to go,” he told her.
“I was very upset that Kelman
wanted to go so soon, but
I understood,” Joanna remembers.
“He wanted the best for
us, and he would follow the
paths of those before him who
sought their fortune in the
United States. His plan was
to get to America, work hard,
save money and then pay for
us to be brought over to join
him.”
Joanna thanks her lucky
stars that she didn’t join Kelman
on his journey to America,
as they trip was rife with
problems — long hours in the
desert, coyotes who blackmailed
Caribbean L 20 ife, DECEMBER 3-9, 2021
them, and more.
Nevertheless, Kelman
made it across, and began to
work in America, saving every
penny for his family back
home, as he had promised.
Joanna had planned to
travel via a coyote with her
3-year-old son to the U.S.-Mexico
border, where they would
hand themselves over to Immigration
Enforcement offi -
cers, which, she hoped, would
allow her into the country.
“While I was aware of the
risks, I especially worried
about taking my child on such
a trip with unknown dangers
ahead,” Joanna said.
The coyotes packed Joanna
and the child into a house in
Guatemala near the border of
Mexico, where they waited for
the ideal conditions to make
their crossing.
“Our day began bright and
early at 8 am We piled into a
minivan and drove through
Guatemala to a house near the
border where we would cross
into Mexico.”
The group began a long, arduous
journey by foot across
the border into Mexico.
“Luckily, no one saw
our group, and we weren’t
chased,” Joanna says. “I don’t
think I would have been able
to outrun anyone. We eventually
came to the house across
the border in Mexico where I
collapsed, out of breath and
exhausted.”
Next, the coyotes packed a
bunch of people into a van for
a long drive north — and while
Joanna was happy to be off of
her feet, her problems didn’t
end there.
“There was AC, but we
were crammed together so
tightly that it was uncomfortable,
and I could feel the sweat
gathering and running down
my body. I stripped most of
the clothes off my child to cool
him.”
“We passed through a couple
of police checkpoints, and
neither time did the police
look inside, which was a relief.
We were told that we had to remain
absolutely quiet at those
checkpoints.”
Eventually, the group came
to a house in Mexico used by
coyotes for smuggling border
crossers, which was rundown
and dirty.
“The 120 of us jostled for
space within that house,” Joanna
remembers. “The dirty
window blinds were down.
The walls were covered with
chipped and peeling paint,
and on the fl oor were stained
rugs and sleeping pads. The
air smelled stale and rancid
with the smell of hot, unwashed
bodies.”
She didn’t have to stay
there long, though, as the coyotes
eventually took small
groups to a nearby bus station,
where they boarded the transport,
and stayed on the busses
for 2 straight days while heading
even further north.
“One very disturbing thing
happened at a Mexican checkpoint.
The police demanded
fees from us, or else we would
be sent back to our countries.
We were asked for 300 pesos
each,” Joanna remembers. “I
handed over the money and
realized I now had hardly anything
left if I needed to buy
food for my little one. I was in
tears, and my child sensed my
distress and clung to me.”
Yet, the bribes worked, and
the Mexican authorities allowed
the bus to travel to the
Rio Grande river, which they
waded through under the
cover of nighttime.
“It was 5:30 am when we
had crossed the river. I did not
know what part of the United
States we were in. The group
ahead of us got to U.S. immigration
around seven in the
morning.”
When Joanna and her son
made it to ICE headquarters,
the pair was placed in a frigid
room, with only an aluminum
foil-like blanket covering
them, until they were processed
a short while later.
“We were taken to a second
place, and I was relieved that I
wasn’t separated from my boy.
Then everything progressed
very quickly. I was allowed to
call my family and arrange to
get picked up. I signed documents
and had an electronic
security bracelet fi tted around
my ankle that would show my
location at all times,” Joanna
says. “I felt like a criminal.”
Next, a Catholic charity
helped transport the mother
and son to a nearby shelter, before
eventually getting them
to an airport where they were
set to fl y to New York City.
“When I saw my husband I
collapsed, crying in his arms.
What a relief it was to fi nally
be with him. My son looked at
this stranger with big, wondering
eyes. He had to get to
know his dad all over again,”
Joanna recalls.
“When I no longer have
to wear the ankle cuff, then I
would love to be able to travel
and see more of this country.
What a beautiful country it is
— America the beautiful!”
This story is part of
a bi-weekly series containing
edited chapters
of Sharon Hollins’ 2021
book “Crossings: Untold
Stories of Undocumented
Migrants.”
REUTERS