Se fue mojada

(By John)






Se fue mojada.

A couple weeks ago we arrived to work on Monday to one of our co-workers saying good bye to everyone. Much to our surprise, she was saying “goodbye” before leaving illegally for the United States. “Se fue mojada”, or “she left wet” as is said here.

This really struck us. For one thing, this friend has three children.
How hard must things be for a mother to make such a tough decision? How hard must it be for a mother who clearly loves and has raised some well-behaved, curious and studious kids to leave her kids behind indefinitely?

In the photo below, half of the children in it have at least one parent in the USA.



What´s more, is our friend had it much better than many in El Salvador. She had a good job with a well-known city managing projects and on-going work. Unfortunately, her salary was around only $180 a month, so she made the calculation that the risk and cost of going illegally to the USA was worth it.

If she, a responsible mother with a good job, made such a severe decision, what must it be like for the street and bus vendors we see—selling anything from gum and tomatoes, to stickers and pens?

The going rate of a “coyote”, a person who takes people illegally to the USA, is between $6000-$8000. Supposedly, a cousin helped our friend pay this amount. Normally, it includes three tries to enter the States assuming the 1st and 2nd attempts fail. The trip is fraught with dangers, from riding on the tops of trains, to illegal plane flights, to being sitting ducks for corrupt officials and criminals specifically preying on illegal migrants.

“Ha llegado al otro lado”, “she has arrived to the other side”, a co-worker announced after receiving a call from our friend upon her safe arrival to her destination city in the States.

To underscore the danger of the trip, we also learned that when in Texas, still in transit to her final destination, a group of people she was with were kidnapped—by some of those criminals who prey on illegal migrants who have no legal recourse. Luckily, our friend had previously left the house where they were dwelling with her coyote and avoided being kidnapped.

I have never been forced to make such a severe decision in which I would be willing to run such high risks. She was “entre la espada y la pared”, or “between the sword and the wall”, and did what she thought was best for her and her family.

These experiences have shed more light on immigration issues facing our region of the world—issues that will probably be more acute in the coming months of the economic crisis.

I only hope that when dealing with these issues, we step outside of ourselves to take in the full-range of experiences, especially of those whose margin between having a modicum of comfort and mere survival is so drastically smaller than what most people in the US enjoy. And, I only hope that fewer and fewer people are forced to have to make such difficult decisions as the one our friend made.