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Experiences that Come with Being Mexican American - by Jacqueline Portugal

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    179064

    • Jacqueline Portugal at Pima Community College
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    Being a Mexican American can be quite different for everybody but some of my personal experiences consist of experiencing scary situations you read about in books and racism firsthand, your world changes in an instant and your view of life changes and not for the better, being told to speak English right when you have an accent can be quite traumatizing well at least for me it was when I was 12 years old. Language has a double standard to where in America you have to speak proper English and proper Spanish in Mexico, believe it or not people judge you for that. Traveling to Mexico every other weekend to see your family also puts you in a higher percentage to experience certain situations, for example being searched by the U.S. customs for hours and being sat inside almost like a little jail cell inside the building between Mexico and The United States of America can make you feel quite uncomfortable. Another situation that can make you feel like never going back is being stopped by gangs or sicarios in Mexico because they do not recognize you or your vehicle in their small town, can make you paranoid and think about a thousand things that can go wrong, that is why people say go with someone that lives there or go during the daytime. People like to say that sicarios see us Mexican Americans or Americans with a money sign on our heads for them to kidnap us to get money from the family for their return, which there has been a few cases about this happening in real life.

    The reason that people have to force themselves to migrate across the border or to another country that I personally know about is because of gangs, sicarios (hit men), and the government and to also give the future generations a better chance at life. The war between the sicarios and the government is a never-ending fight in Mexico that affects thousands of people no matter who you are. The parents that leave their home country to give their children a better life are the parents that will do anything for their children and sacrifice their whole life for them, are people that I admire for their bravery to start a new life in an unknown country. Another situation that I have heard about why people leave their homes is for the reason of not wanting to be dragged into gangs or become a hit man for a cartel leader. For example, if you have a family friend that you and your family have known for years and they get into a gang, but you do not, they can and will kill you and your entire family because you know so much about that specific person, that they think you might snitch or betray them one day. Just thinking about that makes me afraid to hang out with the wrong people over there. When I think about situations like that I think about all of those young boys that are taught and influenced into joining gangs and that they are taught that, that is the only way out of poverty in Mexico is quite upsetting to think about because they do not have a lot of help to help them avoid that and I am sure they are surrounded by that on such a daily basis that for them it seems totally normal.

    A story told to me by an immigrant that crossed the border trying to escape the war between the gangs and the Mexican government. His first option did not work which was him trying to seek aid from another country legally which makes him a refugee. His plan b was to cross the desert and come to the United States of America by foot. His first steps to be able to be successful on this trip was for him to save up thousands of pesos (Mexican Currency) to be able to pay someone, a person that they refer to as (A Coyote) to do this as a job or a hobby that might be able to guide him from Mexico into The United States of America with a better success rate. 

    Imagine paying someone so much money that you have never met in your life, but for the reason that they are experts in this and because without someone that knows the routes like they do, you are most likely to die out in the desert so the only option was to pay and trust a stranger and hope they did not leave him there in any given moment without help of any kind. He also described how harsh the desert was to him and the others he was with on this journey and how he ran out of food and water after a couple of days and knowing you have no resources, and you are dying of thirst was a wariness feeling. He said that running and hiding from border patrol really does make you anxious and paranoid and that he barely slept a few hours a night when he was out there, every night all the guys would rotate one by one about every 20 minutes to keep a lookout while everyone else tried to get rest. The one thing he said he will never forget was the feeling that he wanted to give up and die but because of his wife and children he had to push through for them. After a week he was finally successful on his journey here even though it did take a few weeks for him to recover from such an experience he is now thriving here with his family working for that American dream he once dreamed of. After being told all this by a person that survived such a horrific experience it really does change your perspective on life and makes you feel grateful for the life you have.

    Three places that I looked up here in Arizona that I know about that aid refugees and immigrants here in Tucson specifically are the IRC, and their website is https://www.rescue.org/united-states/tucson-az, Arizona AllNation refugee resource center (AARRC) and their website is https://aarrc.org/ and Arizona Immigrant Relief Center. These places help and are non-judgmental places that aid and help you move forward to give you hope in this country, and I am glad refugees and immigrants have centers like this to go to for help or advice to get any survival necessities they might need.

    My life has taken a turn for the better you can say since the pandemic started in 2019. I stopped traveling with family and friends to Mexico and by doing that I have not been in any more dreadful situations relating to border patrol or gangs in Mexico. Now I just ask my aunts to bring me the things I need or want from Mexico when they come to visit such as Mexican food, snacks, and even some cultural clothes like boots or sombreros. 

    This page titled Experiences that Come with Being Mexican American - by Jacqueline Portugal is shared under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Jacqueline Portugal at Pima Community College.