Artifact #5 Reflection

The situation at the Mexico-U.S. border is hard for many people.  One of the reasons why it is made up of a lot of children is because their parents or older siblings might already be in The United States.  The children that make it across have sponsors already in the country to stay with during their court hearings. 

The situation where parents go first and then when they have money, send for their children has been happening for a while in the case of immigration.  I have two examples of this besides the example in the article.

The first is of Reyna and her family. Her father went first looking for a job so that he could build his dream house in Mexico.  After being in the United States for 2-3 years, he sent for her mother.  Juana, her mother left for the United States.  She stayed with her husband, Natalio, for 2 1/2 years. The children were there in Mexico without their parents for a very long time.  A year + after their mother came back, their father finally came back for them.  He had enough money to support them.  He left with three out of his four children.  

My other example is of my great-great-grandmother.  She sent her oldest son first.  He worked in the United States until he had enough money to send for another child.  This kept on happening throughout the years and children. Some children would go alone and others would go with one of their siblings.  Finally, when all of her children were in the United States, my great-great-grandmother came to the United States herself.  While it is backwards of Reyna’s situation, it still shows that individuals will go first, and eventually send for all or most of the people in the family. 

I have loved learning about immigration through news articles, The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande, and stories from my own ancestors.  This has been an eye opening experience, because I have never really thought into a lot of detail about the hardships of immigration outside of my family. 

The ship my great-great-grandmother came over on. 

Artifact #5

My fifth artifact is an article from NYTimes.  The article features the youth and children at the Mexico-U.S. border.  The children come from many other places besides Mexico: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and a small amount from 43 other countries.  The children from the three largest named above make up 3/4 of the children at the border, and only 1/4 are from Mexico.  This is surprising because Mexican emigrants used to be the largest percent.  The surge of children began in 2012, and has continually increased throughout the years.

The sudden surge from the three countries: Guatemala, el Salvador, and Honduras is most likely influenced by the poverty, violence, and family reunification.

Some of the children, around 30,000, are being placed with sponsors around the United States.  The majority of them are being sent to Texas, New York, California and Florida.   They are living with these sponsors while their court hearing are going on.

The influx of children at the border and across the border causes dispute in the nation.

Article Link

Artifact #4 Reflection

An interesting story connects two of my ancestors from totally different lines.  It also connects well to The Distance Between Us.

My great-great-great-grandfather, Paulinus Allred was settled in Lehi, Utah.  When word came about the starving handcart companies and wagon trains in Wyoming, Paulinus's church leader asked him to take his horse and cart filled with supplies and help the struggling pioneers. Although Paulinus and his wife had very little themselves, he loaded up his wagon and went to the rescue. Fighting deep drifts of snow, he and his team managed to meet the wagon team at Fort Bridger and helped guide them into Utah. Paulinus (my grandmothers ancestor) ended up helping William Stewart (my grandfathers ancestor).

The story that I just told relates to Reyna because Paulinus helped guide the pioneers just as the coyote and smuggler ended up guiding Reyna and family. While Reyna was crossing the border with her siblings and father, they had help from a coyote: a person who is paid to aid illegals across the border. On a side-note, there is a contrast between Paulinus and the coyote.  The Coyote did it for money, gaining something, while Paulinus used his own supplies to help, reducing his own objects.  Reyna and her family also had to pay a separate smuggler to get them from the border to Los Angeles.

Over the years, many people have aided struggling people.  There have always been people who are the reason others make it to a certain place.  Once sailors and pioneers, coyotes and smugglers, and now even Taxi companies. They all help people get from one place to another.

Artifact #4

Another of one of my great-great-great-grandfathers helped rescue the Hodgett Wagon Train, of which William Stewart was in.

This is Paulinus Harvey Allred's journal.

Artifact #3 Reflection

My great-great-great-grandfather was also an immigrant to the United States of America.  Once in America, his journey to the Utah was long and difficult.  He recorded his voyage to America in his journal.

He was on the ship for two months. While the voyage wasn't easy, the terrible hardships for him came much later when he crossed the plains to Utah.  William was a skilled carpenter, so he was asked to make handcarts for the poor immigrants who couldn't afford to buy oxen and a wagon. William spent the spring and early summer months of 1856 constructing handcarts. He left with the Hodgett Wagon Train in the middle of July 1856.  They reached Wyoming in October where an early snow storm caught them unaware.  His wife, Elizabeth, delivered a baby girl during the snow storm.  They both died.  Many others died as well because of the blizzard.  William and his two young sons arrived in Utah weary and frostbitten.

Reyna's father, Natalio, came back to Mexico after many years away, for his children.  He wanted to take them to the United States so that they could live a better life.  Their journey across the border was tiresome and a struggle.  Reyna was about ten years old when she crossed the Mexico-U.S. border, so the journey was especially hard for her.  The connection between William, my great-great-great-grandfather, and Reyna is the sorrow that eclipses their journeys. As mentioned, William lost his daughter and wife. Reyna, though she lost no one, saw something very terrible while she was crossing. Her second attempt of crossing, she came across a dead man who had failed to cross the border.  She learned that many people do not survive the Border Crossing then.

In the paragraph above, I mentioned that Natalio wanted to bring his children to America for a better life.  I believe that he was talking about money in that sentence.  His children were very poor and did not eat well and were not very physically healthy because of this.  By bringing them to America, they would be able to fully reap from the benefits that their father has with money.  William Stewart also wanted to come to America for a better life.  However, his reasons were not based off poverty.  He wanted the religious freedom that America offered for his family and himself.

Both families did eventually find a better life in America.

William after arriving in Utah. 

Artifact #3

My great-great-great-grandfather, William Stewart, was also an immigrant to the United States of America.  This is his journal for crossing the ocean to reach America.

Artifact #2 Reflection

Poverty is often a push factor for migration for many people.  This was the case for both my great-great-grandmother and Reyna Grande. 

My great-great-granmother, Marie Nielson Robins, wrote in her autobiography about the struggles that she had growing up because of lack of money.  Marie accounts how her father earned 8 cents a day for flailing wheat. Often their meal "consisted of a slice of Rye bread moistened with water and sprinkled with salt" (Marie). Her mother also worked in the fields and was given "a drink of whiskey and some sandwiches.  She always traded her liquor to some of the men for their sandwiches, and these she brought home to her children." Marie's older brother always saved some of his lunch to bring home to his younger sisters. 

My great-great-grandmother got her first job when she was nine years old.  She cared for a large family in Gunnison, Utah (this was after they arrived in the United States).  For pay, she received her board, "a calico dress, and a sun bonnet made from a dress the woman had worn out." 

She was only able to attend school a total of 12 weeks her entire life, before she had to start working.

Marie's christmas's were very sparse.  Their christmas dinner and presents combined was a loaf of white bread.  Marie wrote, "Toys of any kind were unknown to us.  I never owned a doll in my life and even when a child, would not have had time to play with one."

When Marie was twelve years old, she went to Fillmore to find work.  She remained away from home for one year, and was very homesick to see her mother. 

In comparison to my great-great-grandmother's life, there is Reyna and her family's life in Mexico.  Reyna's and her family ate very little while they were living in Mexico. "We don't eat much," Carlos said.  You wouldn't need to make a lot of money to feed us" (Grande, p 147).  Their mother worked many jobs while she was in Mexico with her children in order to keep them fed.  Also, Mago worked out near the train station when she was very young to help pay for food for herself and her siblings.

One difference for Marie and Reyna’s family is while, in Mexico, they were able to go to school until 6th grade, and in America, they were able to graduate.  My great-great-grandmother only ever took 12 weeks of school, before she had to pay the school fees and she was kicked out. 

While the children were still in Mexico, Natalio visited them to take them back to America.  He brought the children toys: dolls and cars.   That was another difference between Marie and Reyna.  Marie wrote that not once had she ever had a toy. 

Reyna’s parents left her when she was a small child to get work.  In Marie’s case, it was she who left her family to work.  In both stories, the girls miss their mothers very much.

Poverty has always been a motivation to leave and find something better.  I have enjoyed learning about the different ways of life because of their (Reyna’s and Marie’s) trials.

Artifact #2

Artifact #2

My second artifact on immigration is the autobiography of Marie Nielson Robins, my great-great grandmother.

Artifact #1

Anecdotes of José and Laryssa

In the case of José, he was an emigrant from Mexico. He left his wife and daughter.  José came to the United States in search of a job, so that he could provide for his family still living in Mexico.  He found a job as a construction worker and sent money to his family for several years after being here in America.  After being in the United Statesfor a years years, he found a new "wife" and has children with her.  Though he still sends money to his family in Mexico, he rarely talks or visits them.

Another story of recent U.S. immigration is of Laryssa. Laryssa Meideros Pearson is my sister-in-law.  For the first twenty years of her life, she lived in Brazil with her mother.  After meeting my brother near her hometown, they started dating.  Months later, he proposed to her.  They worked on mainly one major detail while they were engaged: her immigration to the United States of America.

In order for her to come to the United States legally, she had to go through a major, expensive process. It began with James, my brother, submitting papers.  The papers were an application for the K1 fiance visa.  In these papers, he had to clarify that they had personal contact with each other.  He put together pictures of them together, bank accounts, where he and she lived, if Laryssa had a criminal record, if she had a passport, etc.  They put these papers in in January 2010. They received an interview date in February.  The interview was to be in June 2014.  They paid a total of 1,000 dollars before the interview.  The interview was in the American Consulate located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  After the interview, James and Laryssa were told that she could come to the United States legally in two weeks, which was also still in June.  They were also told that they would need to be married legally in 90 days between the time that she arrived in the U.S. and the Visa expiration. They spent another $1,500 to get everything settled for her arrival in America. 

For her green card application, she had to fill out very similar paperwork, but with her married name instead: who she was, where she's from, who she's married to, social security number, drivers license (Brazil).  This was another sum of money.  They have filled out these papers three times.  The last time they sent them in was in December 2013.  She has yet to have a green card. 

As soon as she has her green card, they will have to pay $600+ in order for her to gain U.S. citizenship. 

Laryssa has two children born in the United States.

Artifact #1 Reflection

The Distance Between Us Artifact #1

In my life, I have heard several stories of migration.  Two stories that relate to the Distance Between us and share similar aspects are the anecdotes of José and Laryssa. 

José’s story is parallel to Natalio Grande’s story, the father in The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande.  Just like José, Natalio left his wife and family in Mexico to go work up in El Otro Lado, the United States.  He wanted to build a dream house for his family in Mexico.  One difference in the two stories is that Natalio sent for his wife, and while she was in the U.S., they had an American baby.  However, the differences end there. Natalio left his wife, and married another woman, Mila, in the United States. 

It seems, from themes mentioned in The Distance Between Us, these stories are not so unique. It seems to be a commonality. 

Laryssa’s anecdote shows the differences between Natalio and his family’s immigration and her own.  For Natalio, the process was simple compared to Laryssa’s.  He crossed the border illegally, as did his wife and children.  They did not have to go through all the paperwork and money that Laryssa and James have had to in order for her to come to the United States.
Though not to make it seem like the trials are not as bad, Natalio did have to fill out paperwork after he had been living in the United States for several years.  He also had to pay the smuggler a few times in order for him to go back and forth the few times he did. 
One similarity between Laryssa and the Distance Between Us is that Juana, Reyna’s mother, had two children (Leonardo and Betty)  in the United States, making them U.S. citizens.  Laryssa also has two children born in the United States.

After reading The Distance Between Us, I now am more aware of what life is like in Mexico.  I can’t say I understand the hardships Reyna, José, and many others have faced because I have not ever had trials such like theirs.  It is a sad thing that families are separated because it puts too much emotional strain on everyone involved.  It is good, though, that they had good intentions in the beginning and end for some. I was much younger when Laryssa came to the United States, but I do know what it’s like for families to enter the United States.  I love that after reading Reyna’s memoir, and researching on my own family’s, I am able to understand immigration more.