Nogales

Lupe: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Photo of Lupe

I’m between a rock and a hard place, between the sword and the wall. If I stay here, well, that would be better, but it would be turning my back on my kids. And I cannot do that, because they’re my life. But if I try to go back and they catch me and they keep me in detention for a year, well, I don’t want that either, because then I won’t be able to be with my kids either. So I don’t know, I don’t know what I’m going to do. And to my village, I don’t want to go back there. There’s no work there. It’s only agriculture and there’s no work. So I don’t want to go back there. So I don’t know.

Lupe: Too Many People Dying

Lupe

There are too many deaths, too many people dying, women being raped, both by the coyotes and by the mafia. Some border patrol officers are good and some not so good. But this I can understand, we are coming into the country illegally. But all we want is to work. I want to work for my kids, to give my
children a better life. Mexico is too difficult.

Lupe: I Sent My Kids, Thinking I Would Follow

Lupe

I left Mexico when I was 16. In the US I met my husband, I had my kids. I was there for almost 12 years. When I was pregnant with my last kid, the border patrol picked me up. My husband had been deported so I let them deport me, thinking that back in Mexico I would do okay. I was here for four years. Then my husband crossed back, and I sent my kids. Then I tried to cross as well, and couldn’t. They picked me up. I was detained for three months. I was just released, just now.

Catracho: Guy from Guatemala

man posing for camera

Oh this is the picture that the other guy was asking where this picture that was taken. This is the close up of the face of the guy from Guatemala.

So how would he feel seeing himself here on this picture?

Well, I don’t know, he is not here anymore. He’s waiting. He’s thinking. Thinking about where to cross or whether he will stay here in Nogales or whether he will go back. Who knows what he is thinking?

He looks young, doesn’t he?

Yeah, he’s like 22.

Catracho: Dollars Make a Difference

back of van

That person is carrying all his belongings in that plastic bag… It feels bad, because that’s all you own. That’s all you have in this moment. Though, maybe if that bag was full of dollars then it would make a difference.


Ésta persona está cargando todas sus pertenencias en esa bolsa plástica. Se siente mal, porque es todo lo que tienes. Todo lo que tienes en este momento. ¡Claro que si la bolsa estuviera llena de dólares sería diferente!

Catracho: Waiting for the Van

waiting for van

So there we are outside of the shelter, waiting for the van to come to climb up and bring us here [to El Comedor] for breakfast. That’s everybody who stayed at the shelter. They’re waiting for the van to come. Here that is a van, and we’re all climbing into the van and they’ll take us over to the Keno Initiative at the border.

How does it feel to be there waiting for the van?

Catracho: The Chapel at the Shelter

chapel

So let’s see, what’s going to happen next? You got up and then you go where?

Oh this is still at the center. That’s the chapel where we can say thank you fo being alive and being here in Nogales. Everybody goes through the chapel and that is the place where we can just hang out and wait after we make the bed and pick up stuff. We wait in the chapel and then the van comes and picks up and brings us here to El Comedor for breakfast.

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