Immigrants travel through this tunnel to make their way into El Paso.
Vanessa Loredo, a Texas Tech University sophomore Spanish major, said her father, Jose Loredo’s cousin, crossed over illegally when he was young.
Read his story in: American Dream Not Quite Reality
As a native of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, he moved to Weslaco, where he began to work and build a family, Vanessa Loredo said.
After he married her mother, a Weslaco native, it took about four years for him to become a legal citizen.
The restrictions and paperwork, she said, make it difficult for people to gain citizenship.
She said her family in Mexico has been waiting on American residency for about ten years.
“After a while of waiting and waiting,” Vanessa said, “their hope to get those papers has kind of died down.”
Immigration expert and Texas Tech University professor Miguel Levario, Ph.D. said restrictions have grown due to post 9/11 security measures.
The Office of Immigration Statistics reveals an estimated 94,800 Mexico natives were granted naturalization in 2011.
The statistics also show about 756,000 naturalization petitions were filed in 2011, and an estimated 57,000 were denied. These numbers are not exclusive to Mexican nationals.
Student Vanessa Loredo said making a living in Mexico is difficult.
“Once they make it over here,” she said, “there’s jobs. In Mexico, the job force is very scarce, and the job’s that they do have — everyone seems to know that talent.”
Read also: Blurred Border Boundaries and Desert Guides at a High Price
About Lucinda Holt
