What they go through to get here
- According to the U.S. Border Patrol, 1,954 people died crossing the United States-Mexico border between the years 1998-2004. In the fiscal year ending September 29, 2004, 460 migrants died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2005, more than 500 died across the entire U.S.-Mexico border. http://en.wikipedia.org
They are not animals!!!
They are immigrants not terrorists!!!
They are not a statistic. They have faces. They have names. They have hopes. They have dreams. JUST LIKE YOU AND ME
He wanted to cross the border, but was denied, so he chose death, he jumped in front of a train.
In May of 2003 the most tragic event involving undocumented immigrants in the contemporary history of the U.S. occurred. Nineteen people, including a 5-year-old child, died from asphyxiation, dehydration and heat while trapped for 4 hours in a trailer, trying to enter the U.S. Jorge Ramos tells the story of those who died trying to start a new life in the U.S. and those that lived to tell about it.
-
A group of between 25 and 28 Mexicans were seeking a new life of better jobs and higher wages but at least half of them died of heat exhaustion. Fourteen people from the group of 28 died and the US Border Control is still searching for two more people. Dreams of a better life Regarding the US border controls, Mr Aleman said: "There should be more understanding, there should be more flexibility." Reynaldo Ambros, whose 24-year-old son Julian was among those who died, called on Washington to adopt a more humane approach to immigration issues. "I would just ask the people up there (in the United States) to lend a hand to these poor guys... We're all human beings. "It would be good if everyone could come here, and see how hard it is, so they understand why they left," said Minerva Barreda. Her father and 14-year-old son, were among the seven who died from Atzalan. "They left because they had to." Left to die The immigrants paid smugglers, known as coyotes, up to $2,000 per head.
-
VICTORIA, Texas – Seventeen people were found dead Wednesday when authorities opened up a sweltering, airless trailer that had been abandoned at a South Texas truck stop with more than 100 illegal immigrants locked inside. An 18th victim died later at a hospital in one of the deadliest smuggling attempts on record in the United States.
The men, women and children from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras were apparently so desperate for air that they tried to claw through insulation on the back door. At least one of those trapped inside placed a desperate call to police late Tuesday, saying people were suffocating and pleading with a dispatcher to "help me."
When sheriff's deputies opened the trailer about 2 a.m., "a flood of human beings" spilled out, U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby said. Many ran off, but others were too weak to go far.
Thirteen bodies were found inside the trailer and four more on the ground just outside. A boy, 5 or 6 years old, was among the dead.
Songs, prayers, tears for immigrants
Kingsville Catholics attend Dia de los Muertos ceremony in Sarita
 |
| Anna Rodriguez places a flower on the grave of an illegal immigrant who died crossing through Kenedy County. About 50 people attended the Day of the Dead ceremony performed at a cemetery in Sarita. |
- No one knows where they came from or who they left behind. Their graves lie side by side, 31 of them, under simple wooden crosses. But on this day they weren't forgotten.
For decades, the immigrants at the Sarita cemetery had gone largely unnoticed. After dying in the harsh Kenedy County brush they were buried here without much ceremony.
Most were discovered without identification and all attempts to find their families or friends south of the border were unsuccessful.
Parishioners from Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church in Kingsville decided to remember the 31 immigrants Thursday, with a Dia de los Muertos ceremony filled with singing, prayers and tears.
 |
| George Gongora/Caller-Times |
| The Rev. Piotr Koziel blesses the 31 graves marked by wooden crosses in the Sarita cemetery. |
"There was hope at the beginning of their journey when they left their homelands in search of a better life," said the Rev. Piotr Koziel, an immigrant from Poland. "Now they lie here in the hope of a resurrection that will bestow on them citizenship in the kingdom of God."
Koziel said he and his congregation wanted to perform the ceremony on the Day of the Dead because they knew no relatives or friends of the fallen immigrants would be there to remember them. "I thought we could honor their dignity," he said after the service.
Koziel learned of the cemetery after being contacted by Kenedy County Sheriff Rafael Cuellar who has overseen burials of unidentified immigrants in Sarita for more than 10 years. Koziel, who performed a funeral service for an immigrant in June, discussed the idea with his parishioners who were enthusiastic about the ceremony. About 50 attended the service.
A group of Texas A&M University-Kingsville students built and installed a 15-foot cross made out of telephone poles in the middle of the cemetery to mark the occasion. Parishioners built an altar at the cross with a plaque quoting the Biblical scripture that read in part: "Our citizenship is in heaven."
Gwyndelin Guzman, a sophomore at H.M. King High School in Kingsville, was part of the church youth group that built the wooden crosses for the graves. "I was real sad when I heard about it," Guzman said. "I was just so happy that we did this, giving the dead a little bit of dignity."
As part of the service Koziel and parishioners walked past gravesites marked "John Doe" and "Unknown Male," spreading incense with a censer and laying down flowers. For many, the experience brought tears.
"It's kind of emotional to see a grave marked unknown," Norma Garza, a member of Our Lady of Good Counsel, said. "I can't really talk now. It's very spiritual."
Cuellar said he is glad of the newfound relationship with Our Lady of Good Counsel. "With Father Piotr we can have what we didn't have before, a more humanitarian burial," he said. "All we have to do is call."
Koziel said he felt a bond with the immigrants buried in Sarita, because like them he escaped from poverty and an oppressive government.
"I think we all belong to the same family," he said. "No matter what country we come from.
Does this make you proud to be an American?
Leticia Vélez of Guadalajara, Mexico, holds a photograph of her son, Oscar Córdoba Vélez, a 23-year-old shot dead by a U.S. Border Patrol agent September 26, 1998, east of San Ysidro, California.
 |  |
|  | ||
 |
The following picture is of an unidentified Mexican worker found recently in the desert near Douglas, Arizona. Please note carefully the rope marks around this unfortunate Mexicano's neck. Who knows what torture he may have endured. 