houstoncriminallawjournal.com
A major
motivation for women to cross the border is to reunite with husbands or
family. An example of this is the story
of Maria Jimenez, who is 29 years old.
Her family was struggling financially, so her husband crossed the border
to try and make some money to get rid of their financial troubles. He would send back the money he made in
America to his family back in Oaxaca, in hopes of getting enough money to get
the rest of his family into the United States. After collecting enough money,
Maria was able to cross the border, and finally reunite with her husband (Alvarez
and Broder).
This is
only one example of separated couples where women have to cross the border to
try and reunite with their husbands.
Unfortunately, I have heard numerous stories similar to this one while
volunteering at a local soup kitchen back home. Most of the men we fed were living on the
streets with no food and very little money, even though they worked hard every
day. I did not understand why they were
not able to live a reasonable life when they were working so hard until I was
able to sit down and have a conversation with a man one day. While talking, the man explained to me that
he crossed the border in hopes of supporting his family back home, which was
struggling from financial problems. He
worked every day as a day laborer, and sent a large majority of the money he
made back to his family and his wife, who was hoping to join him in the United
States in two months. It must be
extremely difficult for these families to be separated from each other for such
long periods of time, and this must be why the wives of men who crossed the
border come to America as soon as they can.
Although there is an extensive family back home, I don’t think there is
anything comparable to living in a different country than your significant
other, which motivates women to cross the border.
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