BonnerSprings.com / Brothers back at work, sober

Archive for Thursday, August 14, 2008

August 14, 2008

Editor's note: This is the seventh in a series on the experiences and views of two undocumented brothers from Mexico who came to the United States in June 2007 to improve the lives of themselves and their families through better-paying jobs than those available to them in their hometown of Mexico City.

Efrain and Saul are back on track.

Two weeks after they were kicked out of the shelter they'd been in for a year since moving to the Kansas City area from Mexico City to work as day laborers and save up money to start their own construction company back home, they've found an affordable apartment in an old Kansas City, Mo., neighborhood.

Saul said he enjoys living on his own much more, because the rules at the shelter were so strict. Specifically, there was a 9 p.m. curfew and absolutely no drinking.

Now the brothers can stay up, have a beer or two with their neighbors on the apartment building's portico after work and not worry about getting kicked out of their home.

The man who employs them for building houses has been forgiving, they said, but told them they can't miss any more work.

In the last week of June, when they got kicked out of the shelter run by a religious organization for staying out too late, the two went on a weeklong bender, that included drinking rubbing alcohol. When I saw them, Saul was in bad shape, making me fear for his life.

This weekend, in contrast to their broke situation of nearly two months back when they were sleeping in the living room of an acquaintance's dingy apartment in the Argentina neighborhood, Efrain was sending a backpack of items to his family in Mexico City via an American friend who is traveling there this weekend on business. The items included an iPod Efrain bought on the street for his teenage daughter.

Saul still enjoys discussing politics, and said half- jokingly he would perform a homosexual act if Barack Obama were to be elected president.

That's because, Saul said, America is still full of "racism, pure and absolute."

Saul refused to believe polls that until recently had shown the African-American presidential candidate well ahead of the white John McCain.

I told him racism and fears of being perceived as racist have in fact been acknowledged as troublesome for pollsters in trying to gauge voters' true thoughts and who they would actually vote for - that is, many people who wouldn't vote for Obama on the basis of his skin color or ancestry might feel too self-conscious to say so because they know racial prejudice is socially unacceptable in America today.

Likewise, Saul said he had no faith in the American media treatment of Cuba, despite the fact that under Fidel Castro and now his brother Raul, Saul admitted, there has been heavy censorship of the press.

"Cuba es mi amor," Saul said, because Castro's revolution has lifted the Cuban people out of the level of poverty that he said is rampant still in Mexico and in other Latin American countries.

Still, Saul said, he's not a communist.

"Soy Zapatista," he said, referring to the movement of indigenous people in the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico, fighting for rights and equitable land distribution for native populations there.

The movement is spearheaded by a masked, charismatic leader known as Subcomandante Marcos and is named for a hero of the Mexican Revolution, Emiliano Zapata.

The brothers still plan to return home in November.

- Jesse Truesdale, Chieftain reporter, is fluent in Spanish. No interpreter was used for this story.

Discussion

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15 August 2008
at 4:04 p.m.

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Thinking (Anonymous) says…

These brothers seem to have a hard time following rules, be those of the shelter or of the the USA. They are in this country illegally.
18 August 2008
at 1:22 p.m.

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jcook48 (Anonymous) says…

its nice they can send “stuff bought off the street” home.sounds pretty illeagle to me.my son had an illeagle alian aquire his sociol security number “off the street” or one of the times my house was broke in to. by the time i found someone to help me “I.N.S.”-immagration and naturilization services. the person had went back “HOME”to mexico.im glad they dont have to live in a DINGY” place in argentine.sounds like everthing they do is illeagle.lets make sure they can get drunk while saving money for their homeland.and we wouldnt want them to live in a dingy place like so many of are citizens have to because of job shortages,or age.
19 August 2008
at 10:42 a.m.

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triedntru (Anonymous) says…

Jesse Truesdale admitted in an earlier article that these illegal aliens had purchased a vehicle and were driving it around (most likely uninsured). Now, he tells us that they have been binge drinking, even drinking rubbing alcohol.

I will hold Jesse Truesdale and John Beal personally accountable for any injuries these illegals inflict on any innocent legitimate Americans. The blood of patriots will be on your souls for failing to turn these individuals in.
19 August 2008
at 2:46 p.m.

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bonnerdonner (Anonymous) says…

Truesdale is in la la land. In other words he is employed by the Journal World. They only have to feel good and state it. They don't have to live with the consequences of illegals in there back yard.
21 August 2008
at 4:04 p.m.

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p2bamerican (Anonymous) says…

You have got to be kidding me. The fact that this made the paper really shows where this country is headed. Welcome to TMZ oh I mean America. Where every illegal act you perform is funny and of course excused!!! What a joke. Let's spend more of our money on illegal immigrants, or even immigrants who do not want to be american or follow america's rules… but want the freedom that we have fought so hard for. The demise in America is not in terrorists but in the allowing of immigrants to come and take our hard earned money. I ask you how can illegal immigrants get SRS benefits (paid for by taxes) yet they do not pay taxes. They get all the benefits of being an american without the work…I wonder why they don't leave and send for the rest of their city!!!! I found this story disgusting…why don't you do a story on a hard working american who is struggling and working hard and not boozing. That would be a story worth printing.