Tijuana, Mexico
Families separated by the pandemic are planning joyful reunions when the Mexican-US border reopens on Monday, but not Martin Figueroa, who left his “mind and soul” behind when he was deported.
He is one of a number of Mexicans who lived legally in the United States until, due to legal offenses, they were sent back to a country that no longer feels like home.
“It’s sad to know that many will be able to cross, but I won’t,” Figueroa, 52, said in the simple room he rents in the border city of Tijuana after being expelled in 2018.
The deportees left behind families, friends and—in the case of war veterans—financial benefits and the comrades they fought alongside in countries including Vietnam and Iraq.
“It’s hard because you could say that my mind and soul stayed on the other side. Only my body is here,” said Figueroa, who was separated from his seven children.
“I can’t say when leaving work, ‘I’m going to see my children.’ No. Because there’s that wall,” he said, referring to the fence snaking along the more than 3,100 kilometer-long (1,900 miles) border.
Figueroa was sent back to Mexico while working in construction in Bakersfield, California, despite having steered clear of gangs for several years, he said.
He had arrived in the United States at the age of two, after being adopted by Mexican immigrants.
Now, Figueroa works in a call center in Tijuana that deals with customers in the United States.— APP
